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The winners and losers of a more fractured world

Economic fragmentation has picked up pace as blocs form behind the world's two largest economies. But what does this mean for trade, growth and investors?
January 11, 2024
  • Faultlines are appearing in the global economy 
  • Economists see a world split between US and China blocs

This time last year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) issued a bleak warning. The Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine had “deepened cracks in the global economic order”, leaving the world facing a period of economic fragmentation. 

Global production chains that we took for granted under more benign economic conditions suddenly looked precarious – and since then, the fragile bonds of globalisation have become more strained. The Israel-Hamas conflict has intensified tensions further, and economic behemoths America and China now find themselves on opposing sides.

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