Jozef Ackermann, the Chief Executive Officer of Deutsche Bank said last Friday that the Latin American region is better placed than ever to face the current ecinomic turmoil.
"Strong economic fundaments, booming commodity prices, improved confidence and robust domestic demand improved the region's resilience tothe current uncertain global developments. 2008 will be an especially interesting year as we witness the extent of this resilience and the degree to which the region can continue to realize its potential".
How would such a paragraph on Belgium read?
"A very uncertain political context, negative trade balance, and a foreign debt of 287 billion EU, the third hightest foreign debt/GDP rate in Europe, after Italy and Greece, makes Belgian extremely vulnerable in the current economical crisis. In the current hausse of commodities, resource-low Belgium is extremely vulnerable. Add to that a inflation which will double in 2008 compared to 2007 (close to 4% coming from 1,7% in 2007) and a growth which will be in the most optimistic scenarios 1,9%. Surprisingly enough, the 2008 federal budget takes into account a creation of 46.600 new jobs in 2008. This is surprisingly high in the current economical context."
I'm apparently not the only one who believes that this is an era in which the weight of the world is shifting.
