As restrictions due to COVID-19 gradually fade away and life returns to pre-pandemic-like conditions, apart from China and Hong Kong where new lockdowns have been imposed, the global economy faces new challenges, according to UBS.
The unexpected war in Ukraine has rocked the international order and had a big impact on energy and agricultural markets and on specialist products produced by Russia and Ukraine. The war is expected to curb economic growth in the advanced economies by up to 1 percentage point this year, with Europe the most affected. For example, in April the IMF downgraded its growth forecast for 2022 for the advanced economies to 3.3 percent from 3.9 percent in January and further downgrades look likely.
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