War, Energy Crisis, Inflation, Recession, COVID on the Rise – Markets, Unsurprisingly, Tumble

In the December edition of Industry Watch, the focus was on the implications of a new infectious COVID variant, Omicron. In the March edition, the focus switched to the war in Ukraine and the sanctions imposed on Russia and the implications, if the war continued, of a global fuel, food, fertilizer and aluminium crisis. This on top of the shortages of many goods used in manufacturing – a legacy of COVID.

The real concern now is inflation. After decades of low inflation, this has now returned with a vengeance – with current predictions for the USA and European countries later this year reaching 9-11%, for example. The economic outlook is grim - fuel prices are now at an all-time high, food and most other prices are increasing due to shortages and higher transport costs. Negative growth leading to a global recession is a real possibility and governments are struggling to adequately respond.