Doha, Qatar: The global economy endured large negative shocks during 2025, which were reflected by significant turbulence in financial markets and numerous iterations of economic growth forecasts. By mid-year, a dim outlook was grounded on the fears of broader and deeper trade wars after the new US administration embarked on a comprehensive increase of tariff rates for imports from all countries. This represented a major threat to global supply chains and a potential blow to growth in both advanced economies and emerging markets, QNB said in its economic commentary.
Expectations later began to recover gradually, as US policy shifted towards a more pragmatic stance, and an increasing number of signed trade deals helped moderate uncertainty, as well as discard the most extreme negative scenarios for global trade.
The improvement in the global outlook by the final part of the…