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Global economic trends
The IMF’s World Economic Update project forecast that global growth will fall from an estimated 3.4% in 2022 to 2.9% in 2023, then rise to 3.1% in 2024. The 2023 forecast is 0.2% higher than predicted in the October 2022 World Economic Outlook.
Rising prices
Inflation in the eurozone was 9.2% in December 2022, with energy prices the biggest contributor at 25.7% and Food, alcohol and Tobacco at 13.8%.
Irish economic trends
Early estimates indicate that GDP in Ireland grew by an estimated 3.5% in Q4 2022, when compared with Q3 2022. GDP for the full year 2022 is estimated to have increased by 12.2%, when compared with 2021.
U.S. economic trends
The U.S. economy continued a strong pace of growth in the fourth quarter as consumers boosted spending on goods, employment continued to increase, and inflation started to stabilise.
Energy crisis
So far Europe has managed to avoid the worst of the energy crisis as a combination of substitution to new energy sources in industry, a relatively mild winter, and an increase in stored gas helped offset the decline in supply.
