AFP, Beijing :
Pessimism among European companies about their prospects in China has hit an all-time high, a lobby group said Tuesday, saying the country’s slowing growth has been accompanied by an “increasingly hostile” business environment.
Fifty-six percent of European firms polled by the European Chamber of Commerce in China said they are finding it more difficult to do business in the world’s second largest economy, a five-point increase from a year ago, the group said in its annual Business Confidence Survey.
Nearly a third of the firms said they were bearish about their profitability in China, the highest rate ever and up eight points from 2015’s numbers, it said.
China’s economy grew 6.9 percent in 2015, the weakest rate in a quarter of a century, and the change has had an outsized effect on European companies, the report said, noting that the business environment has become “increasingly hostile” as expansion slows.
The changes contradict years of promises from Beijing to reduce barriers, it said, noting that European firms’ “disillusionment in China’s reform agenda” has “deepened”.
“After years of speaking of a level playing field, many of us don’t see any change and think it’s still rhetoric,” European Chamber president Joerg Wuttke told reporters ahead of the report’s release. Looking ahead, more than 40 percent of respondents said they may have to cut costs in the country through methods including layoffs while 11 percent said they have made plans to shift investment to other markets, the report said.
Nearly 60 percent complained that the recent tightening of Internet controls has negatively impacted their business, a 17-point jump from 2015, it said.
