For businesses in the Asia-Pacific region, as elsewhere, growth is a sore subject. The coronavirus pandemic has chilled economic activity and the IMF warned this month that the slowdown in the region will be worse than both the global financial crisis of 2008-09 and the Asian financial crisis of 1997.

However, the IMF sweetened its prognosis, pointing to how the Apac region’s underlying growth prospects, and its progress to date in containing the virus relative to other regions, could mean that it emerges from the crisis sooner than the US and Europe. This will be a welcome crumb of hope for Apac growth businesses, many of which will be fighting for survival over the coming months.