The Global Competititveness Report 2011-2012

The Global Competitiveness Report 2011–2012 comes out amid multiple challenges to the global economy. After a number of difficult years, a recovery from the economic crisis is tentatively emerging, although it has been very unequally distributed: much of the developing world is still seeing relatively strong growth, despite some risk of overheating, while most advanced economies continue to experience sluggish recovery, persistent unemploy - ment, and financial vulnerability, with no clear horizon for improvement. In addition, rising commodity prices are eroding the purchasing power of consumers and are likely to slow the pace of recovery. Such uncertainties are being exacerbated by growing concerns about the sustainability of public debt amidst the slow growth of some advanced economies. The damage that would be wrought by the first sovereign defaults among advanced economies since the 1940s is impossible to gauge, although the mere possibility of this eventuality has already hit investor confidence, put the very viability of the euro into question, and further undermined the US dollar’s value and its place as the world’s preferred reserve currency.