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Coronavirus pandemic
OpinionComment
David Brown
David Brown

Asian manufacturing data and Covid-19 vaccine hopes suggest better days ahead for the global economy

  • Asian manufacturers are at the forefront of the upturn, judging by business confidence data showing surges in purchasing managers’ indices across the region
  • Given the way manufacturing indices are pointing, global GDP growth in 2021 could be heading for its strongest level for a decade

Reading Time:3 minutes
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A worker is seen at a Shaanxi Automobile Holding Group factory in Xian, Shaanxi province, on November 2. The group produced 198,000 vehicles from January to October, a 28.5 per cent rise compared with the same period last year. Photo: Xinhua
David Brown

On the surface, it is all good news at the moment. The latest factory output data underlines that we are in the midst of an expansive global recovery.

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Asian manufacturing is booming as the world emerges from its pandemic gloom. The global supply chain is getting back into gear, manufacturers are tooling up for recovery and consumers continue to make up for lost time on retail spending.
China is definitely in the vanguard of the recovery, but the global growth radar screen shows that North America and Europe are not too far behind, either. With effective Covid-19 vaccines coming on stream soon, economic sustainability is less in doubt and the prospect of an elongated, V-shaped recovery seems reasonably assured.

The world can get back to the business of faster growth, quicker job creation and the return to normality so desperately needed after the lost year of 2020.

Making up for lost time seems to be a key theme for the recovery ahead. There is large pent-up demand for goods and services which was temporarily frozen during the pandemic but is coming back on stream as the outlook continues to brighten.

03:13

World gears up to distribute Covid-19 vaccines as drug makers await medical regulator approvals

World gears up to distribute Covid-19 vaccines as drug makers await medical regulator approvals

Global manufacturers are scrambling to meet a big backlog of unfilled orders, especially with the world still running short of key supplies of consumer, investment and raw material goods.

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