Global Economy: Shaping Up For Another Dismal Year

Photo Credit: Peter Mintz

Just three months in, and already there is a nagging sense that 2013, like last year and the one before, will produce another disappointing vintage for the world economy.

Japan’s $1.4 trillion monetary barrage stole the show last week, but it was the dismal turn in data from the United States and Europe that brought home how this year is panning out worse than many had hoped.

News that American employers hired far fewer staff in March than even the gloomiest predictions managed to derail the heady rise of stock markets over the last few months.

And business surveys from the euro zone confirmed recession there is dragging on, confounding hopes for improvement, with France’s economy deteriorating sharply.

Hopes now rest with China and that signs of renewed vitality in the world’s second-biggest economy can underpin the global economy. “I’m hopeful we’re not going to see the slide back that we’ve seen over the last couple of years,” said Victoria Clarke, economist at Investec in London.

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