Global growth – Down but not out
While equity and commodity markets have recovered, it is an almost consensus view that already tepid global economic growth in H2 2015 likely weakened furthered in Q3 and shows few signs of recovering near-term,
Governments, lacking in both leadership and fiscal-reflation headroom, have passed the buck to central banks struggling to hit multiple growth, inflation and financial stability targets.
However, talk of global recession let alone economic collapse is somewhat overdone and I reiterate my long-held view that the global growth story is a cause for concern, not panic (17 December 2014).
Global GDP growth has been mediocre but pretty stable in the past three years at around 2.4 and 3.2%, according to respectively World Bank and IMF estimates, so perhaps it is the expectation of a return to pre-2008 growth rates which is unfounded.
International institutions have revised down their global GDP growth forecasts for 2015 but history suggests that the IMF’s 2015 forecast of 3.1% growth may prove a tad too pessimistic.
The focus on China’s ill-defined “hard-landing” and “true” growth rate has obscured the fact that growth in US, still the world’s largest economy, is back to its long-term average.
Finally, while policy-makers are running out of tools to spur their economies, a number of emerging market central banks, including in China and India, still have room to cut policy rates further.