by The Economist Intelligence Unit

Each year The Economist Intelligence Unit publishes an annual report giving its outlook for six global industries: automotive, consumer goods and retail, energy, financial services, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, and telecommunications. Much of what we predicted in last year’s report turned out to be wrong. As we all know, the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic overturned assumptions about the development of the global economy and destroyed any hope of steady growth for many industries.

This year more uncertainties and risks lie ahead as the world stutters into a recovery (see box on page 4). One imminent risk is the US presidential election on November 3rd, which may result in policy changes if the Democratic Party candidate, Joe Biden, wins—and yet more uncertainty is likely in the event of a disputed result. Yet, underlying this political and economic volatility are trends that have remained consistent, or have even been amplified by the pandemic. While these trends will vary from industry to industry, this year’s report highlights at least four that are already reshaping the global economy and the industries that we cover.

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