Economic Trends
The business report includes the designated disclosures pursuant to ESRS 2.40 and ESRS 2.42 of the sustainability reporting on strategy, business model and value chain. The relevant sections include a corresponding reference in brackets below the headings.
Economic trends
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), global economic growth in 2025 amounted to 3.3 percent, on par with 2024. This means that the IMF considered global economic output to be more resilient than excepted despite the uncertainty dominating the global economy as a result of geopolitical conflict and trade disputes. The IMF reported that global trade volumes grew at a significantly slower pace than in previous years. However, it believes that the negative repercussions of US tariff policy on global growth have remained comparatively moderate since companies have responded with flexibility, pulled imports forward and quickly adapted supply chains. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) takes a similar view. It expects the full repercussions of US tariff policy to be felt later but that they were already noticeable in 2025 in consumer decisions, labor markets and consumer prices. High investment spending in artificial intelligence (AI) and assistive fiscal and monetary policy helped demand, though. While inflation rates had already started to decline worldwide, the decrease slowed compared with the previous year. The OECD reported global growth of 3.2 percent for 2025. As in previous years, emerging markets and China saw stronger growth than the USA and the eurozone.
% |
|
2025 |
|
2024 |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
World |
|
3.3 |
|
3.3 |
|||
Advanced economies |
|
1.7 |
|
1.8 |
|||
Developing and emerging economies |
|
4.4 |
|
4.3 |
|||
Eurozone |
|
1.4 |
|
0.9 |
|||
Germany |
|
0.2 |
|
-0.5 |
|||
Asia |
|
5.4 |
|
5.3 |
|||
China |
|
5.0 |
|
5.0 |
|||
India |
|
7.3 |
|
6.5 |
|||
Japan |
|
1.1 |
|
0.1 |
|||
USA |
|
2.1 |
|
2.8 |
|||
|
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