Global growth is slowing amid rising trade and financial risks

This article is brought to you in association with OECD.

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Global economic growth remains strong but has passed its recent peak and faces escalating risks including rising trade tensions and tightening financial conditions, according to the OECD’s latest Economic Outlook. Growth forecasts for next year have been revised down for most of the world’s major economies. Global GDP is now expected to expand by 3.5% in 2019, compared with the 3.7% forecast in last May’s Outlook, and by 3.5% in 2020. In many countries, unemployment is at record lows and labour shortages are beginning to emerge. But rising risks could undermine the projected soft landing from the slowdown. Trade growth and investment have been slackening on the back of tariff hikes. Higher interest rates and an appreciating US dollar have resulted in an outflow of capital from emerging economies and are weakening their currencies. Monetary and fiscal stimulus is being withdrawn progressively in the OECD area. The shakier outlook in 2019 reflects deteriorating prospects, principally in emerging markets such as Turkey, Argentina and Brazil, while the further slowdown in 2020 is more a reflection of developments in advanced economies as slower trade and lower fiscal and monetary support take their toll. Presenting the Outlook, OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría said: “Trade conflicts and political uncertainty are adding to the difficulties governments face in ensuring that economic growth remains strong, sustainable and inclusive.” “We urge policy-makers to help restore confidence in the international rules-based trading system and to implement reforms that boost growth and raise living standards – particularly for the most vulnerable.” Read the full speech. The Outlook says trade tensions have already shaved between 0.1 and 0.2 percentage points from global GDP this year and estimates that if the US hikes tariffs on all Chinese goods to 25%, world economic growth could fall to close to 3% in 2020. Growth rates would drop by an estimated 0.8% in the US and by 0.6% in China. The Outlook shows that annual shipping traffic growth at container ports, which represents around 80% of international merchandise trade, has fallen to below 3% from close to 6% in 2017. Growth in China has eased over the course of 2018 amid tighter rules on “shadow bank” financial intermediaries outside the formal banking sector, a more rigorous approval process for local government investment and new US tariffs on Chinese imports. Stimulus measures and easier financial conditions by the central bank may help to bolster slowing growth and help engineer a soft landing, but could also aggravate risks to financial stability, says the Outlook. A much sharper slowdown in Chinese growth would damage global growth significantly, particularly if it were to hit financial market confidence. With very low interest rates in many countries – particularly in the euro area – and historically high  debt-to-GDP levels (both public and private), policy-makers’ room for manoeuvre in case of a more marked global downturn is limited. The Outlook says it is important to maintain the capacity for tax and spending policies to stimulate demand if growth weakens sharply. Although such fiscal space is limited, co-ordinated action will be far more effective than countries going it alone. Such action should be focussed on  growth-friendly measures, such as investment in physical and digital infrastructure and targeting consumption spending more towards the less well-off. Laurence Boone, OECD Chief Economist, said: “There are few indications at present that the slowdown will be more severe than projected. But the risks are high enough to raise the alarm and prepare for any storms ahead. Cooperation on fiscal policy at the global and euro level will be needed.” She added: “Shoring up the global economy also involves responding to people’s concerns about the lack of improvements in wages, living standards and opportunities. Promoting competition to improve business dynamics can help by increasing workers’ bargaining position and lowering prices for consumers. Investing in skills is also crucial. It raises productivity and income and reduces inequality between workers.” A special chapter in the Outlook shows how, as digitalisation spreads, the divide between high-skill, low-routine jobs and low-skill, high-routine work continues to grow, posing the risk of further widening inequalities. It says strengthening product market competition would not only prompt wider diffusion of new technologies, thereby raising productivity growth, but also help transfer output and efficiency gains to wages.