Shortages limiting growth and boosting inflation

With shortages of goods and labour still dominating the news, and following our Focus research into global shortages, we have added a new page to the Global Economics Chart Book to monitor their evolution. While the global economy has continued to grow at a fairly healthy pace, businesses are reporting that shortages are limiting growth, particularly in advanced economies. Suppliers’ delivery times have continued to lengthen, backlogs of work are mounting and congestion at ports has increased. Most of the shortages should begin to ease in the year ahead, but shortages of labour could be relatively persistent. Staffing issues seem most pronounced in the US and UK, implying that the risk of sustained above-target inflation is also greatest in those economies.