This is our second annual global economic outlook report. We hope it will help you and your stakeholders navigate the many challenges, risks and opportunities in the global economy in the year ahead.
To differentiate this report from other outlook publications, we include summaries of interviews with chief financial officers (CFOs) from diverse industries and regions, who provide their bottom-up perspectives from the corporate level on how they see the world in 2025. There is also an exclusive interview with distinguished economist Charles Goodhart, who discusses his current views on the global economy.
The report is divided into five sections:
Section 1 discusses the prospects for the global economy and key countries in 2025, highlighting both opportunities and downside risks, including the impact of policy changes under the new US administration.
Section 2 features an in-depth interview with Charles Goodhart, who shares his thoughts on the challenges and opportunities ahead, including the potential resurgence of inflation, and the role of artificial intelligence in reshaping productivity and inequality.
Section 3 outlines the key events to monitor in 2025, including political developments in major economies such as Germany, Canada and France.
Section 4 examines three major trends to watch closely over 2025:
- Developments with artificial intelligence (AI): Improvements in the application-level success with AI, amid a move away from chatbots and towards applications that leverage a variety of techniques. Governance should also become an active consideration alongside potential sustainability implications.
- Rising geoeconomic fragmentation: Could changes in US trade policy raise the risk that the period of ‘slowbalisation’ in goods trade since the Global Financial Crisis switches to a period of deglobalisation.
- Further retreating from green policies: Growing political and economic pressures leading to retreating on climate commitments, particularly in developed economies.
Section 5 summarises interviews with seven CFOs from across the globe.
