Economists reduce forecasts to predict a worldwide slowdown
GROWTH will brake sharply throughout the world in the coming years, a widely-regarding economics consultancy announced this morning.
Even fast-growing emerging economies will be hit by the weakening global situation, the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) said.
China, where GDP growth was in the double figures for much of the last decade, will see its rate fall to seven per cent by 2016, the CEBR expects. Nearby India will enjoy only six per cent growth both this year and next, it also expects.
“An emerging markets slowdown coincides with recession in the Eurozone and stuttering progress in the US recovery,” said the CEBR’s Tim Ohlenburg.
Exporting nations such as Japan and Germany will be hit, along with those relying on commodity prices. While food prices are being forced up, other commodities are set to tumble, the CEBR said.
Ohlenburg added that a Middle Eastern conflict or “Eurozone implosion” would risk turning the slowdown into a global recession.
Even without such shocks, the UK will only recover with 0.7 per cent growth next year, the CEBR said.