Precarious situation ahead for 2020

With the trade war still largely unsettled, uncertainty is expected to linger. A 2020 rebound is now not on the cards. There aren’t too many bright spots left.

IT’S the time of the year. The year 2020 begins in four weeks.

In a word, the economic outlook is precarious; indeed, rather lousy. International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) October World Economic Outlook (WEO ’19) forecasts point to some global recovery in 2020, with growth rising at 3.4% (against 3% in 2019), after a year when for the first time in a long time, world trade rose at a slower pace than world growth (1.1% against 3%).