Economic climate

One of the overriding issues of the year under review was the global economic crisis. The winter of 2008/2009 witnessed the most severe crash in the world economy since the Second World War. Most notably, the sharp contraction in global trade at the beginning of the year ushered in a deep recession. It impacted first and foremost the large industrial nations, which had to absorb a record fall in their economic output. Since the spring the economy has been on course for recovery. A crucial factor here was the stabilisation of the financial markets, a success attributable primarily to massive central bank intervention as well as the announcement of state assistance programmes and guarantees for the financial sector. Government stimulus packages also left a positive mark on the real economy.

By year-end the situation on the world's financial markets had eased appreciably, and the economic climate had improved virtually everywhere. New orders, output and global trade all showed improvements. The experience of past economic phases shows that recessions associated with banking and real estate crises are usually only slowly overcome. The problems affecting the financial sector have still to be remedied, and the decline in capacity utilisation is expected to bring rising unemployment. Positive stimuli are anticipated from the continuing effects of the economic stimulus programmes and the robust development of emerging markets.