IBERSOL | 2019 Annual Report

2019 ANNUAL REPORT Global Situation Having peaked in mid-2018, world growth entered a period of less ex- pansion, with a slowing of activity in the manufacturing industry and in investment. Recent data from the Central European Bank shows that the situation reached relative stability towards the end of 2019, in an atmosphere of increased trade wars between economic blocks, of political instability in some regions and uncertainty regarding the development of Brexit. The growth of world GDP fell from 3.6% to 2.9% in 2019, reflecting a slowing of the most advanced economies in the world, and of China, and counterbalanced by the recovery and increased growth of the most important emerging economies. The USA’s GDP grew by 2.3% in 2019 based on favourable financial conditions and increases in private consumption, sustained by a ro- bust labour market, with inflation at around 2%. The Euro Zone grew 1.2% in 2019 sustained by favourable lending conditions, new gains in terms of employment and salary increases, a slightly expanding budget policy and steady external demand. In 2019 the Chinese economy maintained a trajectory of gradual slo- wing down, that set at 6.1%, reflecting the reduction on exports and of investments, within a framework of the progressive implementa- tion of structural reforms that tend towards a reduction in the weight of foreign trade in the economy. ECONOMIC CONTEXT 7