3,500,000,000,000, EUR 3.5 trillion or 5.7 percent of global economic output. Preliminary estimates suggest that this is the volume of the gross written premiums generated by insurers across the globe last year
Equity markets plummeted in the early weeks of this year. Even the risk of a global financial crisis did the rounds. This was fueled by deep concerns about the outlook for the global economy.
The rampant growth achieved by the emerging markets in the first few years following the global recession of 2009 was accompanied by a rapid increase in debt among private households and the corporate sector alike, particularly in Asia.
Over the past few decades, inflation has been driven down both in the world's developed countries and on a global scale, so much so that fears of deflation now outweigh concerns about imminent inflation.
Almost seven years may have passed since the collapse of Lehman Brothers set the latest global economic crisis in motion – yet the lingering feeling of crisis remains.