2022 Global economic and market outlook: the late cycle recovery

13 December 2021

As 2021 draws to a close, Ric Deverell, Macquarie's Chief Economist and Head of Net Zero, looks back at how global economic growth and the commodity and currency markets have fared throughout another unpredictable year, and forward at their prospects for 2022. Despite having to confront new COVID-19 variants, emerging inflationary pressure and rising energy and commodity prices, he says 2021 has seen strong global economic growth, albeit with diverging outcomes across countries. While COVID-19 headwinds persist, the virus should progressively become less of a factor in driving economic outcomes next year, with the global economy expected to continue expanding at an above-average pace.