Paris, 31 May 2022—Ahead of our annual General Assembly, we released today our annual Business Barometer that reflects the views of our international business community in light of ongoing global macroeconomic developments. Our barometer ‘From Covid-19 to the war in Ukraine: Doing business in challenging times’ revealed a significant drop in business respondents’ sentiment about the global economy, where only a GDP weighted average of 10% of respondents now regard the business environment as “good”, as opposed to the 2021 figure of 60%.
 
Furthermore, 19% of respondents now predict that they will see a moderate decrease in investment levels, while 4% fear that investment will strongly decrease, implying that the impact of the war is already being felt in different parts of the economy.
 
A majority of respondents expressed concerns over the economic impact of the war in Ukraine, and particularly how it affects the energy, commerce, and shipping sectors. The other two main risks to global economic recovery are inflation and its impact on higher prices, and the effect of supply chain disruptions on pricing as well as on the supply-demand balance.
 
It is essential that governments focus on addressing three identified main challenges of the global economy: supply chain disruptions, inflation, and the overall impact of the war in Ukraine. As identified in our survey, we also urge governments to step up policy reform, focusing on digital transition and infrastructure, human capital and public infrastructure, and demonstrate strong political will and leadership.