Post-Apec, investments in Asia Pacific expected to keep climbing

As the dust settles after the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) meeting in Beijing, business leaders in the region are working to see what it all signals for investment as economic growth slows.

A report by PwC finds that 46 per cent of chief executives in the region are "very confident" of growth in the next 12 months, a rise of 10 points from 2012 and four points from last year.

The survey, called New Vision for Asia Pacific: Connectivity creating new platforms for growth, surveyed more than 600 business leaders.

It found that 67 per cent plan to increase investment in the region in the next 12 months. These plans are spread over each of the 21 member economies, with China, the US, Indonesia, Hong Kong-China and Singapore the most popular. Some 57 per cent of respondents said they are building or expanding facilities in Apec economies in the next three to five years.

Some of the old issues remain however. Momentum for free trade remains slow. Seventy per cent of respondents say Apec is moving closer to a Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific, but more than half (55 per cent) say progress is lagging, and 11 per cent say it has stalled or even reversed.