The Current Account

The global economy is in crisis, sparking a rollback of globalisation that is shaking the very foundations of international trade and finance. A growing number of economists are predicting that the global economy will shrink this year, erasing many of the gains that have lifted millions of people around the world out of poverty.

As fortunes are lost, the stakes are mounting. Companies are discovering that their business models are obsolete. Policymakers are adopting unprecedented tools as the rules of international economics are rewritten. And as millions of people find that their livelihoods are being lost along with their savings, a new period of political and social turmoil looms.

Beneath these convulsions lies a more profound shift in the wealth of nations. The post-colonial world, one defined by the might of the West, is coming to a close. A new age, defined by the aspirations of the East, is dawning.

For the UAE and the rest of the Gulf, it is a critical time. The region has capitalized on the latest oil boom to build world-class cities and begin diversifying its economies, all while amassing vast savings that are being deployed to battle the crisis. Whether the region will successfully build on the reforms of recent years to navigate the harsher landscape, though, remains to be seen.

Edited by the National's Senior Economics Correspondent Wayne Arnold, The Current Account is a forum for those following the global events that affect the Gulf and tracking the journey of a region whose economic progress has implications for the entire world.

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