The global economy will advance by 4.5 percent in 2022 if the impact of the Omicron variant is limited and the measures implemented will ensure adequate protection against serious illness, according to the PwC Global Economic Watch 2022 report.

The baseline of the report is based on the premise that this year will be less unpredictable than last year. However, given that the new Covid-19 variant continues to cause a great deal of uncertainty, the report also considers a more pessimistic scenario in which, amid overstretching of health systems, economic activity would slow down significantly and even contract in the northern hemisphere in the first quarter. Under these conditions, it is estimated that global GDP would fall by about 0.5 percentage points from the initial scenario.

“The optimistic outlook for the global economy confirms the expectations of business leaders who, in the PwC Global CEO Survey, expressed a majority (77 percent) confidence in the growth prospects for this year. At the same time, 59 percent of the general managers of Romanian companies believe that in 2022 the national economy will have a better evolution than last year. The perception of business leaders towards the evolution of the economy is very important because it depends on investments, expansion, recruitment or salary increases,” said Dinu Bumbacea, Country Managing Partner PwC Romania.

According to the report, in the baseline scenario where the impact of Omicron will be limited, the US, China and the EU will remain the top three economic blocs in the coming years, but with some changes. For example, 2022 could be the first year in which the Chinese economy will surpass that of the European Union (EU), a ranking that will be maintained in the medium term.