Global economic challenges in turbulent times

  • Global economic challenges in turbulent times speech by Dr. Ralph Solveen, Deputy Head of Economic Research

“Global economic challenges in turbulent times” with Dr. Ralph Solveen, Deputy Chief Economist

Dr. Solveen, Deputy Chief Economist Commerzbank was the keynote speaker at the New Year’s reception for the German Embassy and German-Belgian-Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce. He delivered a speech on "Global economic challenges in turbulent times".

Key topics discussed

  • The further development in China will be decisive for the performance of the world economy in 2020. The corona virus will probably prove only a temporary burden, and the negative impact of the trade war might be smaller than in 2019. However, the Chinese economy is still getting less impulses from monetary policy as the authorities do not want to start the next boom-and-bust cycle. Therefore the growth of Chinese imports might return to positive rates in the further course of the year, but it will not return to the high rates seen in 2016 and 2017.
  • The US is the stability anchor of the world economy by constantly growing with a rate of 2%. This upswing will last until the Fed will put the brakes, and that will not happen neither in 2020 nor in 2021.
  • The euro area economy has slowed down significantly since the start of 2018 because of the impulses from abroad has weakened significantly. We only look for a moderate pick-up of the growth rates in the further course of the year.

Event information

Host:

H.E. Martin Kotthaus German Ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium

Program:

16.30h: Admission

17.00h: Welcome

  • H.E. Martin Kotthaus, German Ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium
  • Georges Lentz, President AHK debelux
  • Hans-Wolfgang Busch, Managing Director AHK debelux

Followed by: Keynote (in English)

  • Dr. Ralph Solveen, Deputy Chief Economist, Commerzbank AG "Global economic challenges in turbulent times "

Followed by: Q&A

18:00: Networking Dinner