UK business group calls on Beijing to improve market reforms, resume flights
- Call came as the Chamber revealed that a large proportion of British companies have yet to return to pre-pandemic levels of revenue
- Chair of Chamber expressed concern that Beijing’s border lockdown and zero-Covid strategy had precipitated an outflow of foreign talent
The British Chamber of Commerce in China has called on the country to engage in greater reform and cultivate a more predictable business environment, in another call by a foreign business community for the country to speed up the pace of market opening.
The call came as the Chamber revealed that a large proportion of British companies that operate in China have yet to return to pre-pandemic levels of revenue and optimism, although there has been a slight improvement from the worst point in 2020, according to its annual sentiment survey conducted between October and November period and published on Tuesday.
Only 40 per cent of the 288 companies surveyed said that their revenue was on track to exceed pre-coronavirus pandemic levels, showing that a full recovery is uncertain.
More than 60 per cent of companies continue to find it hard to do business, due primarily to a combination of Chinese regulatory difficulties, the impact of Covid-19 and associated disruption to UK-China flights, the survey showed.
“Regulatory uncertainty has caused disquiet among UK investors,” the British chamber said. “Market reform [in China] is needed to preserve an uptick in optimism.”
Roughly half of British companies surveyed reported constraints in terms of market access barriers in China.
Of the quarter who expected further market opening in their sector, only a fraction of those believed it would lead to significant business opportunities.
“Regulatory uncertainty has caused disquiet among UK investors,” the British chamber said. “Market reform [in China] is needed to preserve an uptick in optimism.”