Risk jitters rise in Middle East and Africa, says BDO
The latest BDO Global Risk Landscape Report 2025 reveals a significant rise in anxiety among businesses in the Middle East and Africa, driven by geopolitical tensions and regulatory challenges.
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Risk anxiety is on the rise among MEA businesses, with BDO's latest Global Risk Landscape Report showing a marked increase in concern over the past year.
'Not only are geopolitical relationships being strained, the region faces other stresses. In Southern Africa, several countries including Malawi and Namibia have been suffering from the worst drought in a century.
'Meanwhile, civil war rages in Sudan and tensions between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo have ramped up, while in the Middle East, civil war persists in Yemen and the conflict between Israel and Palestine continues to drag on,' a summary of the report stated.
In fact, 85% of regional executives say that the risk landscape is more defined by crisis than at any time in recent memory, which is compared against 78% a year ago.
'It's not surprising at all with the way the world is right now. There is a lot of focus on Donald Trump and what he's doing, but it is especially impacting us in South Africa; we seem to be taking the brunt of his influence with Elon Musk,' said Richard Walker, head of Risk Advisory Services at BDO South Africa.
Among the report's findings is that 40% of executives at African companies see regulatory risk as their biggest concern, with both geopolitical tensions and increasing competition their second biggest worry at 36%. Another top-three risk are supply chain challenges.
Walker said part of the issue is not just that the regulatory environment is evolving rapidly in the region, but that businesses also have to comply with external rules if they want to do business with counterparties in Europe.
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The cost of compliance is also having an impact. In South Africa, some companies are scrapping plans to list on the stock market because it costs too much to comply with local stock exchange rules, Walker adds.
'We're getting used to working in this crisis environment, which makes us ensure that we're agile to everything that happens,' says Walker.
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