Year Ender 2022: Specular Highlights on Asia's Path to Prosperity

2022 was an economic rollercoaster, with companies registering record profits, and the hike in interest by the US federal banks to curb inflation rates sent shockwaves throughout the world, this year no doubt has been challenging for various enterprises to stay relevant and profitable, but make no mistake, though this was a confrontation, various enterprises rose to the challenge and made the most of it, and the Asian continent was the focus of the global commerce to attract wealth and success.

A lot of corporations and startups made excellent strides, and a lot of agreements were made which had a profound impact on the global economy and solidified that corresponding nation’s presence as business destinations, lot of startups attained the coveted status of Unicorn. Qatar hosting the FIFA world cup was the biggest business and sporting venture and India enjoyed global attention as the current global predicament sought the powerhouse’s resources as India surpassed the UK to become the world’s fifth largest economy. A lot of key executives were appointed in the Asian nations to promote their businesses. Let’s see the major events which shaped the business backdrop of the Asian landscape.

Recover Together, Recover Stronger:  Indonesia

Many nations with major developments in various fields and rising setbacks need a platform to come together and converse to address these subjects, and the G20 was conceived with that notion. The G20 is a forum dedicated to addressing the global economy. This year Indonesia chaired the meeting.

The 2022 G20 summit was held in Bali, Indonesia, This allowed Bali to resuscitate its devastated tourism economy in the wake of covid. This G20 was particularly centred on the current tensions in the Eastern European nations, this allowed the NATO members of the EU to have an impromptu meeting. The key outcome of this meeting was to decarbonize the coal-reliant economy of Indonesia which was initiated by a $20B ”Indonesia Just Energy Transition Partnership” deal put forward by the EU, Denmark and Norway. This meeting also gave China and USA to work on fostering their diplomatic ties. The succeeding month India started its G20 summit in the cities of Bangalore and Mumbai which was hosted by none other than the prime minister of India Shri Narendra Modi.

The Host of FIFA: Qatar

If there is one thing which brings the world together irrespective of differences is sports, and football is one sport which arguably has more fans than any other phenomenon. FIFA every year draws billions of viewers and filled-up stadiums are a common sight, this year FIFA had a viewership of more than 3 billion viewers.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani chaired the organizing committee which was responsible for the organization of the prestigious FIFA 2022, This was a grand sporting and business venture undertaken by the royal family drawing major sponsors and partners. This grand objective cost USD 200B for the entire duration of the project. This endeavour drew in fans from all over the globe and is speculated to increase the GDP of the nation by a percentage. This was a lucrative world cup season for the fans as the finals between France and Argentina was a phenomenon. FIFA merchandise like usual had a good retailing period.

The Rising Economic Powerhouse: India

India has been famed for its manpower and highly educated and skilled workforce, and has increasingly become the tech service and lately, manufacturing destination of many countries. The country has a good ecosystem to nourish startups. This year was fruitful with all the Unicorns India bore.

The Billionaire helmed Adani Group shot up to providence after their acquisition spree, record-breaking fundraising and entry into unsuspecting new ventures. Adani forayed into the construction sector with its purchase of stakes in Ambuja Cements and ACC Ltd. It made huge impacts in the Indian green energy space with Adani Green, the enterprise acquired the right to market basmati rice with its “Kohinoor” brand acquisition. They made a grand entry into the airline sector by acquiring MRO Air Works. All their listed companies did extremely well on the NSE and BSE stock exchanges. All these activities made the founder Gautham Adani the richest man not only in India but also entire Asia. India housed major IPOs such as LIC, India’s, largest insurance provider, Delhivery. It attracted the eyes of major investment firms such as Softbank and Berkshire Hathaway. India was under the spotlight this year.

Honourable Mentions

Though these didn’t transpire in the Asian continent, they did impact the Asian scene, The UK had a rocking year with its struggling economy, the new successor of the monarchy and the resignation of Liz Truss, and we saw Rishi Sunak take the mantle of prime minister and aimed to restore the ailing economy of England.

The year 2022 turned out to be affluent for the mergers and acquisition scene, we saw Microsoft acquire Activision Blizzard for a sum of $68.7 B which was famed for its Diablo and Warcraft series, and this venture made Microsoft the third largest gaming company right behind Tencent and Sony by revenue. Eccentric CEO Elon Musk acquired twitter for a staggering $44 B and restructured the entire company and this move has caused major setbacks to its growth and sustenance.

All in all, this year we saw the world slowly return to its pre-pandemic levels. Though there were a lot of setbacks, time is what everything needs to settle and achieve steady standing. There is a lot more in store for 2023 already and everything will be unveiled over time.