Economic parameters

Global economy recovers from the crisis

In 2010, the global economy recovered from the severe recession of the previous year. The first half of the year in particular saw high growth rates; the trend was more moderate in the second half of the year. Asia’s emerging economies demonstrated robust growth. The signs of recovery were also prevalent in most industrial nations, although they varied widely from region to region. Overall, global economic output expanded by 5% in 2010 after having shrunk by 0.6% in 2009. Global trade made an even more significant recovery, gaining approximately 12% (IMF: 12.0%, OECD: 12.3%).

Asia led the global recovery in the reporting year, although the growth rate (approximately 9.3%) was not as high as before the economic crisis.

China again set a record with 10.3% growth in GDP. The industrial sector benefited from the recovery of global trade as well as growing demand in the domestic market. Exports were up year-on-year by 31.3%, imports by as much as 38.7%. As a result, China’s trade surplus decreased slightly from US$196 billion to approximately US$183 billion. The country remains attractive to foreign investors, whose direct investments amounted to almost US$106 billion, eclipsing the already high level of investment seen in the previous year.

The Japanese economy even gained momentum in 2010. Compared with the prior year, exports were up by nearly a quarter. Consumer spending also saw a noticeable increase. As a result, GDP grew by 4.0% despite the fact that capital expenditure remained virtually the same.

In the United States, the economy initially came out of the recession at a rapid pace at the beginning of 2010 only to noticeably slow again as the year unfolded. Investments in machinery and equipment saw the sharpest rise (approximately 15%), albeit from the very low level investments had reached. By contrast, there was only a moderate rise in consumer spending and construction spending was down again considerably. Foreign trade also slowed growth as imports outpaced exports. As a result, GDP only grew by 2.9%; domestic demand was up 3.2%.

The euro zone recovered from the deep recession of the previous year, although GDP only grew by 1.7%. Gross fixed capital formation fell slightly again and private consumption saw a moderate rise. Both exports and imports increased sharply. The trend fluctuated considerably from country to country: Germany recorded very strong growth; France and Italy, by contrast, experienced considerably lower growth rates. Spain and Greece even saw their economic output continue to shrink. These imbalances can be explained by the strong growth of export-orientated industries, from which Germany profited greatly, and by the vast structural problems and high national debt that some countries faced. This situation led to massive cuts in public spending and tax increases, which had a further impact on growth.

The German economy grew robustly in the reporting year, especially the capital goods industry, which profited from the booming demand around the world for all types of equipment. As a result, we saw an unusually sharp rise in production and exports. Over the course of the year we also observed a serious increase in investments in machinery and equipment. Construction and consumer spending was also higher. In the end, Germany’s GDP growth was 3.6%, the highest rate since reunification. Furthermore, the average annual number of unemployed workers in Germany fell by approximately 179,000 to 3.244 million.