Real estate crisis, demographic problems, trade tensions with the United States, concerning debt levels: multiple comparisons can be drawn between China today and 1980s Japan, sparking fears of a "Japanification" scenario for the Chinese economy. Such a scenario is characterised by a slowdown in economic activity caused by a drop in private consumption, the advent of a negative, deflation-fuelling price...

The Spanish economy is going through the final phase of the inflationary cycle that began in 2021 when global supply chains were disrupted owing to the end of the pandemic and gas prices came under pressure due to the war in Ukraine. After growth of 2.5% in 2023, we expect the Spanish economy to grow more moderately in 2024 owing to rising interest rates and the slowdown in the tourism sector, which is...

Public opinion has always been one of the battlefields in power struggles. Now, though, thanks to a combination of geopolitical uncertainty and the "infobesity" (information overload) of what Joseph Nye called the Information Age, the role of public opinion is strategically more important. Who gets to decide who the enemy is? Governments or public opinion? The Global North or the Global South? Who will...

After returning to pre-pandemic levels in early 2022, GDP growth slowed to 1.9% in 2022 from 3.1% in 2021. GDP is now only 0.3% higher than before the pandemic. The economy should grow by a modest 0.2% in 2024, below potential GDP growth, and by 1.1% in 2025.

The recovery in domestic demand and disinflation are taking us a step further away from the stagflationary scenario that many commentators were still predicting a few months ago, or even just a few weeks ago. A slight fall in GDP in the third quarter, continued positive employment growth and a sharp fall in inflation in November continue to provide further arguments in favour of our soft landing scenario...

Italian economic growth was sluggish in 2023 and should remain lacklustre in 2024. After the shocks experienced in 2022 (energy crisis following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine), the deterioration of the economic environment weighed on the economic outlook. From the second quarter of 2023, the cumulative effects of inflation and the initial rate hikes pushed economic activity into negative territory. 

Last week brought two important statistics from China: 2023 growth, which came in at 5.2%, just above the official 5% target; and, above all, the latest population numbers. China’s population declined by 2 million in 2023.

The Spanish economy ended 2023 on a better note than expected at the beginning of the year. The pace of growth slowed in the second half of the year but less significantly and at a later stage than expected. In the second estimate of GDP for the third quarter, the INE confirmed the growth rate at 0.3% quarter-on-quarter (0.4% in Q2). GDP was thus 2.1% higher than in fourth-quarter 2019, before the...

After a soft landing, economic activity should accelerate over the next two years as past shocks dissipate. Lower inflation and still buoyant wages should enable the consumption rebound to continue. Investment, which should be more durably affected by monetary tightening, will not really pick up again until 2025, with the first effects of the expected monetary normalisation.

After a slight decline in GDP in the third quarter (-0.1% QoQ), triggered by a sharp drop in private consumption and investment, we expect activity to stabilise in the fourth quarter in light of the improvement in business surveys, followed by positive but weak growth in early 2024. Disinflation surprised positively and government bond yields fell. Although the risk of recession continues to loom over...