Euronews (July 20)
Spain’s economy looks set to receive a boost from its World Cup win. “FIFA pays the champion federation a record $50 million (€43.7m)… out of a $655 million (€572m) prize pool spread across the expanded 48-team tournament.” Though beneficial, the prize winnings and a surge in celebration spending are negligible at the macroeconomic level. Instead the real driver appears to be “exports, which grow five to six percentage points faster as the title acts as a global advertising campaign for the country’s goods and services.” A 2024 study suggests “winning the World Cup lifts a champion’s year-on-year GDP growth by at least 0.48% over the two quarters after the final, before the effect fades.”
Tags: 50 million, Advertising campaign, Celebration spending, Champion, Driver, Economy, Exports, FIFA, GDP growth, Macroeconomic, Prize winnings, Spain, Surge, World Cup
The Economist (May 18)
“Since Donald Trump took office in January last year, America’s economy has continued to be the envy of the rich world. In 2025, while Britain, France and Japan eked out annual GDP growth of 1%, give or take, and Germany all but stood still, American output grew by 2.1%.” That growth could have been far more impressive. The Economist calculates that without the drag created by “fitful presidential policymaking,” the U.S. “might be rocketing ahead at nearly 5% annualised growth.”
Tags: 2025, 5%, Drag, Economy, Envy, Fitful, France, GDP growth, Germany, Japan, Policymaking, Rich world, Trump, U.S., UK
CNN (June 10)
According to the World Bank, “Global economic growth is on track for its weakest decade since the 1960s.” Its current forecast now estimates global GDP growth in 2025 at 2.3%, a downgrade “from the 2.7% it had forecast in January.” If the World Bank’s current projections for 2025 and 2026 transpire, the global economy will be “on course for its weakest pace of growth in 17 years, excluding two global recessions” arising from the2009 financial crisis and the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.
Tags: 1960s, 2.3%, 2025, 2026, Downgrade, Economic growth, Financial Crisis, Forecast, GDP growth, Global, Weakest decade, World Bank
IPE Real Assets (December Issue)
“There is now a virtual universal consensus amongst economists. The US has successfully navigated a soft landing and its growth outlook is the brightest of all the G7 economies. In December, the OECD published a forecast of 2.4% GDP growth for the US in 2025, versus 1.3% for the eurozone and just 0.7% for Germany. Some even suggest it is an underestimate.”
Tags: 2025, Consensus, Economists, eurozone, Forecast, G7 economies, GDP growth, Germany, Growth outlook, Navigated, OECD, Soft landing, U.S., Underestimate
Rolling Stone (September 4)
“Economic policy has become a centerpiece of both campaigns as Harris and Trump battle to win over anxious voters.” But Trump’s plan to “impose universal tariffs on all imported products” is not a hit with economists or Wall Street. Goldman Sachs has warned “that a victory by former President Donald Trump would likely lead to an economic downturn.” In contrast, the bank forecasts the Harris plan would provide a boost to GDP growth.
Tags: Boost, Campaigns, Centerpiece, Downturn, Economic policy, Economists, GDP growth, Goldman Sachs, Harris, Tariffs, Trump, Voters, Wall Street
Reuters (June 4)
“India may no longer be Narendra Modi’s” and any coalition government he can form will likely end “a decade of extraordinary stability.” While the elite have cheered Modi’s economic reforms, “India’s world-beating GDP growth is not trickling down to the masses fast enough: after a decade of Modi, most of the population are still poor enough to qualify for the government’s free food scheme.” In addition to income disparity, “many Indians feared his authoritarian streak and potential far-reaching changes to the secular constitution.”
Tags: Authoritarian streak, Coalition government, Economic reforms, Elite, Free food, GDP growth, Income disparity, India, Modi, Poor, Population, Secular constitution, Stability
Financial Times (December 1)
“Something weird is happening in America. GDP growth for Q3 was just revised up from an already scorching 4.9 per cent to 5.2 per cent, more Americans have jobs than at any time in history, but the public is up in arms about economic conditions, with consumer confidence dropping to a six-month low. There really is no pleasing some people.”
Tags: 5.2%, Consumer confidence, Economic conditions, GDP growth, Jobs, Low, Pleasing, Q3, U.S., Weird
