Herman Warren
THE YEAR 2020 is being projected to be tougher for global and African trade.
Several world economies are expected to record negative Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate in 2020.
The negative growth is to come off the back of a slow growth rate of the United States (US) economy during the same period.
A dip in the US economy’s growth is due to have an adverse effect on economies of nations that trade directly with the United States.
Director of Africa Corporate Network, Herman Warren, an Economist made this known while making a presentation on global trade on Wednesday in Accra at the Baker McKenzie’s International Commercial & Trade practice group and Kimathi & Partners’ Africa Roadshow.
He told DGN Online in an interview on the sidelines of the Roadshow that “the US Economy is too big to be overlooked.”
According to him, “so it’s going to result in a slow global GDP.”
He added that “things are going to be tougher in some places.”
Already, the global growth forecast for 2019 and 2020 had already been revised downward in the last World Economic Outlook (WEO), partly because of the negative effects of tariff increases enacted in the United States and China in 2018.
It is understood that the further downward revision since October in part reflects a carry over from softer momentum in the second half of 2018—including in Germany following the introduction of new automobile fuel emission standards and in Italy where concerns about sovereign and financial risks have weighed on domestic demand — but also weakening financial market sentiment as well as a contraction in Turkey now projected to be deeper than anticipated.
BY Melvin Tarlue