- ‘Reimagining Growth’ is one of the key themes at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos from 20-24 January.
- Davos 2025 will bring leaders together to under the main theme ‘Collaboration for the Intelligent Age’.
- Check back here for regular updates throughout the week.
In 2025, global growth is projected to remain steady at 3.3%, according to the latest World Economic Outlook from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). That’s 0.4 percentage points below the historical average over the first two decades of this century.
Inflation is expected to drop to 4.2% this year, and to 3.5% in 2026, allowing for further normalization of monetary policy among central banks – part of what IMF Economic Councillor Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas sees as drawing to a close the global disruptions of recent years.
How growth and inflation will bear out in 2025.Image: IMF
That is consistent with the World Economic Forum’s latest Chief Economists Outlook, which finds that “expectations for global growth are muted overall but subject to significant regional divergence.” The US appears poised for a short-term boost, but the outlook for the year ahead remains less optimistic for other major parts of the global economy, including Europe and China.
Reviving and reimagining growth is critical for building stronger and more resilient economies – and it’s top of mind for leaders and experts at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos.
A number of sessions will focus on how we can identify the new sources of growth in a changing global economy.
Key sessions at #WEF25 related to economic growth and finance
All times below are in GMT+1.
Tuesday 21 January
This session explored what it takes to spur the right kind of growth at a moment of dramatic change.
“I think we’re shifting from hyper-globalization to a new form of globalization,” said Faisal Alibrahim, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Economy and Planning. “Maybe there is more fragmentation, but there’s not necessarily less flow of people, goods, services, innovation, ideas.”
Ana Botín, Executive Chair at Banco Santander, lent some perspective to the difference between the global growth anticipated this year and the higher levels enjoyed in the past. The difference between 3% and 5% growth amounts to about $3 trillion per year, she said – money that could “help to reduce inequality” and “allow us to innovate more.”
There was of course talk of forthcoming US policy under a new administration, and more specifically about tariffs. Nasdaq Chair and CEO Adena Friedman noted that tariffs can be used to level the competitive playing field and drive industrial policy, though there are also often “unintended consequences” – including inflation.
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What are tariffs, how old is the concept, and what are they good for now?
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Media leaders on Trump’s return to the White House
The Geoeconomics of Energy and Materials
Finding Growth in Uncertain Times
This session dug into ways to revive the global economy – despite everything.
World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala noted that inflation has fallen globally, thanks in no small part to the efforts of central banks, though the poor continue to bear the brunt of its negative impacts.
“The central bankers have done a good job, but there’s still a lot to do,” she said. She also touted the resilience of the global trade system. 80% of world-goods trade is taking place under WTO rules, she said.
Carlyle Co-Founder and Co-Chairman David Rubenstein sounded an upbeat note about the incoming US administration. Anticipated tax cuts and regulatory changes should spur growth in that country, he said. Impediments globally, he said, include the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and in Ukraine.
Demystifying Industrial Policy
Back into the Black: How to Ease the Debt Burden?
Public debt has grown far faster in developing economies than in their wealthier peers. This session explored the things banks and governments can do to ensure more sustainable debt levels.
UN Trade and Development Secretary-General Rebecca Grynspan put the situation into stark relief. “3.3 billion people in the world live in countries that are spending more on servicing the debt than on education or health,” she said. “So, growth and development cannot happen.” No growth in these countries means no chance for a sustainable path, she said.
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“People are going to figure it out. We’re the United States of America, we’re going to find a way to make it work.”
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— Occidental President and CEO Vicki Hollub, on the possible impacts of new immigration restrictions and deportations on the labor force
Africa’s Economy: Young and Fast
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“By the year 2050, Africa will have the youngest working force in the world. Those jobs will have to be created intra-Africa, we will not be able to import jobs from somewhere else. And so Africa’s digital economy, we believe, is a very, very important aspect of overall intra-African trade.”
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— Wamkele Keabetswe Mene, Secretary-General, African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat
Wednesday 22 January
Decoding China’s Economy: Present and Future
Emerging Economies amid Shocks
This session explored ways the public and private sectors can collaborate on resilience-building in emerging economies.
Bob Sternfels, the global managing partner of McKinsey & Company, sounded a call to action: “We surveyed over 250 institutions, and most folks aren’t prepared. Most folks aren’t doing enough on the topic of resilience, whether it’s private enterprise or public institutions. In fact, 84% of respondents said they don’t think they’re investing enough in resilience.”
Can Financial Systems withstand the Next Crisis?
Back to Basics: Getting Public Infrastructure Right
Is Latin America’s Economic Tide Turning?
Governments have to provide public services and maintain investment to boost growth. This session examined how they must now continue to do this amid rising public debt levels.
First deputy managing director of the IMF Gita Gopinath noted that global public debt recently hit an eye-popping $100 trillion. She argued that we shouldn’t be complacent about that. “We need an absolute pivot, because this is not business as usual,” she said, as interest rates rise and debt becomes more expensive to pay off.
The panelists seemed to agree: one way to navigate this would be by boosting healthy economic growth, the kind that includes ramped-up productivity. “Growth is indeed very important for this fiscal situation,” said UCLA School of Law Professor Kimberly Clausing.
Climate Finance: More Actors More Tools
This session covered the road ahead for sustainable growth amid volatility in the Middle East and North Africa. The region’s economy is projected to rebound in 2025, even as it continues to navigate extreme uncertainty.
Its largest economies are pushing forward with large-scale diversification initiatives.
Thursday 23 January
Stemming Financial Fragmentation
India is the world’s fastest-growing major economy. This session covered ways in which the country has capitalized on a unique blueprint for growth.
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Technology companies that are coming into India – and are welcomed into India – they have to come also with a commitment that they’ll create X number of jobs.
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— Shobana Kamineni, Executive Chairperson, Apollo Health Co Limited
Europe’s challenges cannot be overcome without a more strategically integrated foreign economic policy. This session covered ways to better deploy the power of its single market, the reach of its diplomatic network and the momentum of its green transition.
Arancha Gonzalez Laya, Nikol Pashinyan, and Patrick Pouyanné discuss Europe’s challenges.Image: World Economic Forum
Big Ideas from Small Economies
Friday 24 January
Reports and launches you need to know about
- Chief Economists Outlook: January 2025
The latest Chief Economists Outlook reveals a global economy under considerable strain.
Despite regional bright spots, the overall picture is gloomy and concerns about economic fragmentation are intensifying. The new US administration is expected to unveil significant policy changes across a wide range of areas, notably on trade – where the chief economists expect retaliatory cycles of protectionist measures in 2025.
Have you read?
The financing of a lower-carbon economy is one of the defining challenges of our era. This white paper offers a timely exploration of the transition finance gap, a critical fault line in global efforts to meet climate goals. The gap is not simply one of capital and business case, but also of public policy and frameworks.
This report illustrates the transformative role of AI in global trade by presenting current applications of AI across trade processes, including supply chains, logistics, trade finance, and customs and compliance. It highlights the technology’s potential to enhance efficiency, promote sustainability and encourage inclusivity across international commerce – as well as the challenges and benefits.
This report, developed in collaboration with Accenture, explores how the interaction of technology and human capital are shaping the future of productivity, and sets out four scenarios for productivity in 2030. It presents a data-driven assessment of how businesses in different sectors may be affected, and offers a set of actionable strategies to help businesses and governments not only adapt to change – but also shape it.
- Navigating Global Financial System Fragmentation – 23 January
What to know about reimagining growth
Growth is the weakest it’s been in decades, according to the IMF. While there have been some positive developments, such as easing inflation in many advanced economies, and a loosening of financial conditions, heightened political and economic uncertainty continues to cloud the outlook.
Chief economists see a muted picture for the coming year, with a majority expecting the global economy to weaken and economic fragmentation to increase.
Debt levels also remain a significant threat to stability.
Have you read?
Indermit Gill, the World Bank’s Chief Economist, told the Forum: “At the end of 2023, total debt (public and private) in developing economies stood at 206% of GDP – nearly double the average in 2010.”
With limited scope to use fiscal and monetary tools, policymakers will need to be creative in identifying new ways of driving faster growth – which is essential for unlocking progress other policy areas.
GDP growth may be necessary, but it is not sufficient. The economic challenge facing the world relates to how growth is achieved, and whether it aligns with other important national and global priorities. This is the focus of the Forum’s Future of Growth Initiative, which is rethinking how economies can deliver a better balance between the quantity and quality of growth.
The first Future of Growth Report in January 2024 found the global economy was only halfway to an ideal trajectory on key dimensions of growth quality, and that nearly 4 billion people live in countries delivering lower quality growth.
The state of the digital economy also offers an indication of how technology can underpin global growth. The value of digitally delivered services has grown at more than 8% annually in the past 20 years, according to the World Trade Organization. By 2016, the digital economy was worth 15.5% of global GDP.
The Forum’s Digital Trade Initiative is supporting digital trade policy formulation, national e-commerce reforms, and trade-enhancing technology innovations.
https://www.weforum.org/stories/2025/01/reimagining-growth-theme-davos-2025/
