International Business: ‘Multiple threats to global economy’ – Gulf Digital News

International Business: ‘Multiple threats to global economy’ – Gulf Digital News

DAVOS: Multiple threats to the global economy topped the worries of the world’s well-heeled at the annual Davos think-fest yesterday, with some flagging the risk of a worldwide recession.

Political and business leaders gathering for the World Economic Forum (WEF) meet against a backdrop of inflation at its highest level in a generation in major economies including the United States, Britain and Europe.

These price rises have undermined consumer confidence and shaken the world’s financial markets, prompting central banks including the US Federal Reserve to raise interest rates.

Meanwhile, the repercussions on oil and food markets of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February – which Moscow describes as a “special military operation” – and Covid-19 lockdowns in China with no clear end have compounded the gloom.

“We have at least four crises, which are interwoven. We have high inflation ... we have an energy crisis... we have food poverty, and we have a climate crisis. And we can’t solve the problems if we concentrate on only one of the crises,” German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck said.

“But if none of the problems are solved, I’m really afraid we’re running into a global recession with tremendous effect .. on global stability,” Habeck said during a WEF