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Emerging Marketing Trends in 2023

Martech Outlook | Friday, December 09, 2022

The world economy is at a crossroads with several concurrent problems that are frequently connected as people look ahead to 2023.

FREMONT, CA: Several concurrent crises, many of which are connected, have reached a turning point in the world economy.

The COVID-19 pandemic, a war, a massive energy shock, significant inflation, a global monetary tightening cycle, a strong dollar, China's slowest growth in recent memory, global indebtedness, and rising U.S.-China tensions are just a few examples of the polycrisis we are currently experiencing. Not to mention the turmoil in the financial markets as a result of the breakdown of the long-standing negative correlation between bonds and equities, which led to their simultaneous drop. Although the global debt to GDP ratio is over 300 per cent, governments will need to spend much more to deal with the polycrisis.

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Developed Markets in Recession: The U.S. economy is anticipated to grow the fastest among developed economies in 2023. Inflation has outpaced wage growth in 2022, eroding living standards. However, consumption has remained strong, with retail sales surprising to the upside in October and likely continuing to be strong in the shopping season through the end of the year.

The Purchasing Manager Index (PMI) surveys show that while services continue to expand well, manufacturing entered the contractionary territory in November for the first time since June 2020. The Federal Reserve raised interest rates from zero in March 2022 to above four per cent by the end of the year because inflation has remained stubbornly high. Existing home sales have suffered as a result, and there are early indications that the labour market is starting to relax as well, as job postings have somewhat decreased. With the headline and core Consumer Price Index (CPI) slowing in October and the New York Fed's Underlying Inflation Gauge pointing to an inflation inflection point earlier in 2022, peak inflation likely occurred in September. The Fed will raise interest rates to above five per cent in 2023 to push back against inflation, ultimately leading to a recession.

Organisations anticipate the recession to begin in the second half of 2023 due to the continued strength of the American economy and job market and the huge cash reserves held by American individuals and corporations. The debt ceiling represents a significant downside risk for the United States in 2019, as a dysfunctional government will find it difficult to agree to raise it. In the worst-case scenario, there will be a deadlock over raising the debt ceiling, but it will be done with bipartisan support in the end. It would be disastrous for both the US and the global markets if this were to go wrong and the US defaulted on its debt.

Russia's war on Ukraine has disproportionately negatively impacted Europe, as high inflation has caused a cost-of-living crisis while energy prices have dramatically increased. The autumn has been unusually warm this year, and the Copernicus forecast predicts that the winter will also be pleasant. According to Bloomberg, the average amount of energy storage in Europe is currently over 95 per cent full; therefore, assuming the weather predictions are correct, the continent should be able to escape energy rationing this winter. Since Europe will have to restock its supplies without access to Russian energy and will face increased competition from China for liquefied natural gas, next winter will be much more unpredictable (LNG). The level of consumer and corporate confidence has dramatically decreased across Europe, and the eurozone and the UK are seeing contractions in both manufacturing and services.

Individuals anticipate that output is already declining in Germany and Italy, and a project that the eurozone will enter a recession at the beginning of 2023. In late 2022, the UK economy showed declining output, probably the start of a protracted downturn. The new British government has unveiled an austere autumn budget in reaction to the market backlash following the former prime minister's administration's fiscally irresponsible budget. This has restored confidence in the UK government's ability to manage its finances, but it will continue to restrain growth over the next few years. Although less firmly than the Fed, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of England have tightened monetary policy. This is acceptable given that the prospective growth rates for the Eurozone and the UK are lower and that the main drivers of inflation have been supply-side variables, over which central banks have little control. Peak policy rates of 2.5 per cent for the ECB and 4.5 per cent for the Bank of England are what we anticipate in 2023.

Emerging Markets: Buoying Global Growth: While developed countries will go into recession in 2023, emerging markets will continue to expand, supporting the two per cent worldwide growth that is currently being seen. Global experts anticipate China's growth to moderately increase to about five per cent in 2023 from an estimated three per cent growth in 2022. Two major dangers exist here: first, the Chinese Communist Party released a 16-point strategy to assist the real estate market in late 2022, which anticipates will prevent cascading defaults by real estate developers. The Chinese economy would suffer significantly from unmanaged defaults. China will make further adjustments to its Covid limitations after relaxing them in late 2022.

Given China's very low vaccination rate, weak natural immunity, and lack of mRNA vaccines, the country will find it challenging to adapt to Covid. Certain limitations to continue might disrupt international supply chains as they did early in the epidemic, as officials work to increase vaccination rates and new cases spread over the winter. As limitations are removed, consumer and corporate confidence should rise, but an increase in fatalities may prevent this.

Brazil's growth has been pleasantly surprising in 2022 due to the fiscal policies and robust credit expansion despite a strict monetary policy. Brazil should see an increase in foreign direct investment in 2023 due to a smooth power transfer. In 2023, the President should oversee budgetary expansion with higher public sector pay, increased social investment, and an increase in the minimum wage.Even though we anticipate growth to moderately decelerate from almost seven per cent in 2022 to about six per cent in 2023, India is anticipated to expand the quickest among emerging markets in 2023. Outsourcing services from developed markets, digitalization, and fundamentally expanding domestic demand are the cornerstones of India's economic model. Although India already serves as a hub for business services outsourcing, it is anticipated that manufacturing outsourcing to India will increase as a result of government tax incentives. Since India will continue to be outside of Western oil markets in 2023, it is also likely to benefit from inexpensive oil imported from Russia.

Emerging Markets Face a Sovereign Debt Crisis: Before the pandemic, some EM economies were overleveraged and had to borrow a lot of money to pay for their pandemic responses. With the Fed actively raising rates, borrowing costs have increased globally, and the currency's value has increased, increasing the cost of debt in dollars and imports billed in dollars.

Costs for both food and energy have increased, forcing net importers to pay larger subsidies for each. The Sri Lankan government was the first to decide between providing subsidies for food and electricity to its citizens and paying off its foreign debt, but it won't be the last. Sri Lanka was denied access to the Common Framework because it is a middle-income country and went into default, which led to an IMF programme. African countries are especially at risk since they profited from a worldwide drive for yield after the 2008 financial crisis.

To expedite debt restructurings for low-income nations, the G20 formed the Common Framework in 2020. Under this system, all public and private creditors agree to accept the same terms. Several middle-income and low-income nations will ask for debt restructurings in 2023, with the latter group being refused access to the Common Framework.

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