Davos 2016; Why Economic Outlook for 2016 is Poor

What are the top issues on the global economic agenda and how will they be addressed in the year ahead? Deep uncertainties about the global economy and volatile commodity prices of which oil is the most prominent, combined with major geopoliticial instabilities and increased dangers of terrorism, have come together to create a very poor business outlook for 2016. But concerns over the speed of the slowdown in China have dominated discussions at the World Economic Forum. There is no doubt that growth is there, even if the government claims 6.9 per cent and others think 5 per cent might be more realistic, and this is encouraging, but the world got used to thinking of China growing around 10 to 11 per cent so the slowdown has had a powerful effect. Business worries about China run deeper as President Xi Jinping’s government reveals more of its economic thinking, and so far has failed to address the major structural problems that China needs, as illustrated by the confused response to the Chinese stock market crash. Ken Rogoff of Harvard said that the struggling emer On the agenda: - Rising income inequality and declining productivity - Divergence in monetary policies among major economies - Build-up of sovereign and corporate debt · Arun Jaitley, Minister of Finance, Corporate Affairs and Information and Broadcasting of India · Haruhiko Kuroda, Governor of the Bank of Japan · Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund (IMF), Washington DC · George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer and First Secretary of State of the United Kingdom · Tidjane Thiam, Chief Executive Officer, Credit Suisse, Switzerland Chaired by · Martin Wolf, Associate Editor and Chief Economics Commentator, Financial