If “decoupling” and “de-risking” were the buzzwords of 2022, then a clear contender for 2023 is “fragmentation”.
As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drags on, the threat of global warming grows, and inflation – driven by key commodities such as oil, gas and food – continues to erode economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, so the angst among leading economic institutions over a damaging fragmentation of the global economy rises by the month.International Monetary Fund managing director Kristalina Georgieva, setting the scene for the IMF/World Bank meetings to be held this week in Marrakech, Morocco, has warned that many countries are today “increasingly marching to their own tune” and that “economic fragmentation threatens to further undermine growth prospects”.
In August, IMF economists estimated that rising trade restrictions could reduce global economic…
