First published: Prospectmagazine.co.uk, 21/03/2017
The good news won’t last forever
This week, the Economist’s cover line was “On the up,” referring to coverage of a synchronised upturn in global growth. The main story here—which has been echoed by commentators around the world—is quite important. For the first time since the synchronised economic bounce-back after the 2008-09 recession, the global economy is firing on most, if not all cylinders.
So does this mean that everything’s fine? Not quite. But let’s start with the good news, which is indeed something to cheer about.
The global purchasing manager’s index, which aggregates survey data in manufacturing and services for the most important economies in the world, started turning up gently in the middle of last year, and by February 2017 it was at its highest level for over two years. The manufacturing survey was at its highest since 2011. This marks a material change from the two and a half years to mid-2016 in which these indicators declined consistently, indicating the world economy was in a sour state…..Read more:
