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Famous buildings around the world

The world on the move

Deglobalisation

While the endless pursuit of economic growth has long been the norm, a shift toward a new perspective is underway. One that moves from globalisation to deglobalisation. But what does this mean for your short-term and long-term goals? And what are the effects of this shift on the markets?

rear view of woman looking back

The rest of the world closer

Since World War II, the western world has undergone tremendous change. In Europe, for instance, after the war, we ate for the first time broccoli and tropical fruit bought in new self-service shops. We wore jeans and other ready-to-wear clothing; and washing machines and black-and-white televisions entered our homes - products that could be shipped en masse by sea container from the 1960s onwards. Later, with the advent of PCs and mobile phones, the worldwide web brought the rest of the world even closer.

railway station

Fragile long trade chains

The increasing global interconnectedness was recently impacted when a shipping container blocked the Suez Canal. Likewise, when an initial coronavirus attack in China's Wuhan raged into a global pandemic. And again, when Russia invaded Ukraine. These events made it painfully clear how interdependent global trade is and how the environment suffers from all this. Nowadays, there seems to be a turn in the development of globalisation, more towards deglobalisation. In other words, towards a future with less, rather than more.

Read the articles

A cure for inflation

Investments

26/04/2023

Although prices are rising less rapidly than before, inflation is a persistent disease. And so, for the time being, central banks will continue to administer medication in the form of interest rate hikes. Only towards the end of 2023 will there be room for lower policy rates.

Boundless consumption, for how long?

Investments

26/04/2023 • Judith Sanders

Globalisation has brought us much, but there are drawbacks too. The environment suffers greatly from the intensive consumption-driven global trade. Fortunately, more and more consumers and companies seem ready for a new approach, says Judith Sanders, Sustainable Investment Strategist at ABN AMRO MeesPierson.

Sustainable clothing brand Common & Sense

Investments

26/04/2023

Janine Hoekman wants to sell affordable clothes made as sustainably as possible with her clothing brand Common & Sense. That requires an intensive process that involves Hoekman with all parts of the clothing sector. 

facts and figures ESG magazine

1. The first container ship sailed in 1955 with 58 containers. Today, the largest container ships can carry around 24,000 containers.

2. By 2020, there will be 798,869,193 sea containers handled at ports worldwide; 245 million of them in China and nearly 55 million in the US. 

3. Worldwide, you can order a Big Mac at 39,198 McDonald's restaurants in 119 countries.

4.In 2008, global trade openness was at its peak.

5. Today, a single semiconductor can cross the international border about 70 or more times before finally reaching its final destination.

1. More about our economic forecasts and interest rate expectations can be read in the report ‘Key views on the Global outlook’ (23 January 2023) of ABN AMRO Group Economics. 

2. Read more about our economists’ view on the eurozone economy in the Global Monthly - Where is the recession?

3. Source: ‘Wage developments and their determinants since the start of the pandemic’, ECB Economic Bulletin.

4. Source: interview with Christine Lagarde, 19 December 2022.