World facing 'most complex' situation in decades: WEF
TIANJIN, CHINA: The world is facing the ‘most complex’ geopolitical situation seen in decades, the head of the World Economic Forum (WEF) told AFP on Tuesday, warning that turmoil is ‘impacting global growth’.
‘It is the most complex geopolitical and geo-economic backdrop we have seen in decades,’ WEF president and CEO Børge Brende said ahead of a meeting of the multilateral forum in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin.
‘If we are not able to revive growth again, we can unfortunately see a decade of lower growth,’ he warned.
Officials including Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong will attend this week’s WEF meeting in the port city of Tianjin—known colloquially as ‘Summer Davos’.
The meeting comes hard on the heels of the United States’ involvement in the Iran–Israel conflict and follows months in which the global economy has been battered by a tariff war launched by US President Donald Trump.
Brende told AFP it was still too soon to predict the impact of Trump’s swingeing tariffs.
‘It is too early to say what these tariffs will end with because the negotiations are still ongoing,’ he said. ‘I think the jury is still out, but the traditional globalisation we saw is now changed into a different system—that is a new chapter, especially since trade was the engine of growth.’
Brende also warned that mounting conflict could have a ‘very negative impact’ on global growth.
By RSS/AFP
