Reminiscent of Season's Greetings From Société Générale's Albert Edwards (Nov. 14, 2012):
"Expect the New Year to bring nothing but disappointment...."
The World Economic Forum issued a dire warning to the world at large on Tuesday — it will take society years to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic, and any recovery will be bumpy at best.
"Only 16% of respondents feel positive and optimistic about the outlook for the world, and just 11% believe the global recovery will accelerate. Most respondents instead expect the next three years to be characterized by either consistent volatility and multiple surprises or fractured trajectories that will separate relative winners and losers," the World Economic Forum said in its annual Global Risks Report for 2022.
The report details a host of concerns top of mind among the 1,000 global experts and leaders that responded to a broad array of questions.
About 61.2% of responders said they were concerned about the outlook for the world, citing major problems such as climate change and infectious diseases. Only 15.8% held a positive or optimistic outlook for the world.
Climate change inaction remains a top concern among global leaders, the World Economic Forum found.
Among the list of worries, climate action failure was tops. Interestingly, infectious diseases ranked sixth on things experts and leaders were concerned about.
"As 2022 begins, COVID-19 and its economic and societal consequences continue to pose a critical threat to the world. Vaccine inequality and a resultant uneven economic recovery risk compounding social fractures and geopolitical tensions," the report said. "The resulting global divergence will create tensions —within and across borders — that risk worsening the pandemic’s cascading impacts and complicating the coordination needed to tackle common challenges including strengthening climate action, enhancing digital safety, restoring livelihoods and societal cohesion, and managing competition in space."
Looked at through the prism of asset markets, the World Economic Forum's concerns are beginning to be appreciated by investors. ...
....MUCH MORE
We'll be back with more WEF stuff this weekend, juicy bits you may not see elsewhere.
Probably related: January 11's "World Bank warns global economy faces grim outlook"
And Albert?
Here's his last Holiday missive, December 22:
Société Générale's Albert Edwards' 2022 Outlook: Four Big Surprises... And Lots Of Pain
Coming up: News, weather, and cat bonds with Winne and Eeyore:
"It's snowing still," said Eeyore gloomily.
"So it is."
"And freezing."
"Is it?"
"Yes," said Eeyore. "However," he said, brightening up a little, "we haven't had an earthquake lately."
-The House at Pooh Corner
