Outlook for global economic recovery and macroeconomic sentiment for some of the major economies has worsened in the first half of 2023, fostered by persistent global challenges. Regardless of aversion of a major banking crisis and the US debt ceiling resolution, path for a major global economic recovery seems arduous. M&A activities across the Asia-Pacific region continued to spiral downwards, reporting the lowest number of deals and overall volume in the recent years.
APAC’s M&A activity remained low in the first half of 2023, with deal volumes falling by 29% Y-o-Y (aggregated US$354 billion) and the region’s share of global M&A at just 29% (the lowest among the Americas and EMEA). The overall growth was significantly hampered by a steady decline in deal volumes in India and Southeast Asia (both down by 76% Y-o-Y respectively), but Japan’s improved deal volumes (up by 28% Y-o-Y) stood out as a bright spot.
The constant feeble sentiment might continue to impact economies in the near-term and some persistent factors such as inflation and weak exports shall continue to dwindle the economic growth in the coming years. However, an expected contraction of inflation levels and easing of monetary policies might provide a much needed thrust to the global economy in the later part of the year. Until then, the subdued global outlook will persevere its impact on M&A activities across various regions including APAC and create an onerous journey of its recovery to the pre-COVID levels.
