Recovery on Hold

While 2009 was dominated by the worldwide recession, 2010 saw clear progress towards recovery. In this report we look at 2011, a year in which economic recovery slowed across the globe and a climate of economic uncertainty developed. We examine the implications of these trends for the industrial gas industry. 

A Look at the Numbers 

The industrial, medical, and specialty gases industry operates on a global scale and is intricately linked to world markets. While the worldwide economy attained real growth of 3.5 percent in 2010, growth in 2011 is estimated to slow to 2.6 percent and creep downward to 2.5 percent in 2012. The global comeback that began in 2010 was driven by strong economic recovery in Asia, India, and South America. These emerging and developing economies did not participate as widely in the financial excesses that brought the world into this recession and so have been experiencing better rates of growth than their more developed counterparts. Advanced and emerging economies have experienced slower recoveries as governments work to resolve financial issues and bring down high rates of unemployment.

Europe’s recovery is hampered by the European Union’s (EU) efforts to support sister countries in bankruptcy, like Greece and Italy. Both Europe and the US continue to struggle with high unemployment. The US also faces political deadlock on important issues including how to control its skyrocketing federal deficit. As Asia, India, and South America are tied to and dependent on the global economy, these regions are now beginning to feel the effects of the financial and political issues currently hampering the developed economies. (See Eduardo Pelitti’s analysis of this situation, “Global Economic Turbulence Rattles Latin America’s Strong Industrial Gases Market” on p. 34.) According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Chief Christine Lagarde, “Asia plays a key role in the global recovery, but the region could be badly affected if the crisis in Europe deepens.”