Image credit: Getty Images
Global economic activity was mixed during the third quarter of 2023, with distinct signs of improvement in the US and China but continued sluggishness elsewhere.
Global industrial production was up by just 0.4 per cent in August 2023 compared with the same month a year earlier, according to estimates compiled by the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis (CPB).
But trade volumes were down by 3.8 per cent in August compared with a year earlier and have not grown for a year, a sign of stagnation that is consistent with a recession (“World trade monitor”, CPB, October 25).
The US and China, the world’s two largest economies, showed signs of growing somewhat faster in the third quarter after a pronounced slowdown in the first half of 2023.
US economy beats estimates
Preliminary estimates show US real gross domestic product increased at an…