If the world economy is to maintain any sort of momentum this year, it will be driven by fast-growing emerging markets led by China. But like the developed world, the emerging nations are living in the shadow of the globe’s greatest economic threat – the eurozone crisis.
From Galicia to Guangdong, business is more globalised than ever before. And the explosion of financial links, alongside traditional trade ties, means that economic news travels at unprecedented speed – especially, or so it often seems, bad news.
While there are reports of progress in tackling the challenges faced by Greece, Italy and other vulnerable eurozone states, the eurozone’s traumas are far from over. “The crisis has damaged the European economy . . . and this crisis is by no means behind us,” Olli Rehn, European Union economy commissioner, said this week. “It will take time. Structural reforms often take a long time . . . Markets, however, tend to be impatient and this impatience can push sovereigns or banking institutions into a liquidity crisis.”