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...

Faced with high inflation and severe monetary tightening, advanced economies have shown unexpected resilience thanks to a range of shock absorbers, including savings, sound private balance sheets, lower sensitivity to the interest rate shock, a tight labour market and investment spurred by public policy. These economies are gearing down, each at their own speed – slowly but surely. And while they have...

China is undeniably in the midst of a slowdown. After twenty years of robust, uninterrupted growth, this slowdown was not unexpected, but has proved too fast and strong relative to the trajectory projected by both the Chinese authorities and the rest of the world. While no one doubted China's ability to become the world's leading economic power prior to Covid, this prospect is growing more remote and...

The soft-landing narrative continues to be fuelled by a resilient labour market, despite the slowdown in economic activity, and by the healthy economic and financial situation of private agents. The eurozone is no exception to the favourable trend in supply. But the eurozone economy is slowing more than others, raising more pressing questions as to the end of the abnormal cycle of expansion. While...