Jock Finlayson, EVP & Chief Policy Officer at Business Council of British Columbia (BCBC), laid out the macroeconomic environment in the advanced economies globally.
He began by saying, “We are in a slow-growth world in macroeconomic terms . . . We are now living in a world where the global economy is kind of limping along at a 2.5% or 3% rate of expansion”
Right now the global economy is “choppy” and “risk-prone” and is characterized with “incredibly low inflation in the advanced economies,” “record low interest rates” and “a fair amount of political instability and uncertainty.” He believes this trend will continue into the foreseeable future as well.
The cause of the slow growth is a mixture which includes “aging populations,” “slower/negative labor force growth rates,” “muted productivity gains,” “large public sector debts (in some countries)” and “increasing inequality,” reported Finlayson.
Emerging economies are still growing faster because there is so much opportunity to improve living standards and wealth. Finlayson believes that most of the growth in the global labor force, the consumption, and spending will come from these countries in the years to come.
