We now have the opportunity to invest money anywhere in the world. The global marketplace exists for many financial products, investments and for many large industrial and commercial businesses. The latest crisis has left advanced economies weakened.
The UK economy has to pay back huge amounts of government and private sector debt. The state and the general economy have to support a very large banking system, and live through the period of rebuilding stronger bank balance sheets. This is likely to mean slower growth than the 2.5% annual average of the post war period.
Euroland faces strains from the heavily indebted countries including Ireland, Greece, Portugal and Spain. Meanwhile Germany’s most successful export industries of recent decades now face tougher Asian competition at a time of reduced world demand.
Even the US has to combat heavy indebtedness in both the public and private sectors.
This persuades us to look more carefully at the BRIC economies where growth is faster, and at the resource-backed economies which will benefit from rising demand for energy, food and raw materials as Asia becomes richer and consumes more.
