PwC: Emerging economies set to grow at much faster rate than G7

By Rob Starr, Content Manager, Big4.com

The emerging economies are set to grow much faster than the G7 countries (France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, the US and Canada) over the next four decades, according to a report released by professional services firm PwC.

The gap between the E7 and G7 countries is projected to continue to widen after 2017 – the E7 countries could potentially be around 75% larger than the G7 by the end of 2050 in PPP terms.
Nigeria could be the fastest growing country among the E7, states the latest World in 2050 report, due to its youthful and growing working population, but this does rely on using its oil wealth to develop a broader based economy with better infrastructure and institutions and therefore support long-term productivity growth.

Dr Roelof Botha, PwC Economic Advisor, says: “South Africa has been greeted with an abundance of good news in 2013, spearheaded by a new record high for the all share index (Alsi) on the JSE.
“During 2012, South Africa outperformed most of the world’s key equity markets, with the Alsi gaining almost 23% between the first week of January last year and early January 2013. This represents more than a doubling of the market capitalisation on the JSE from the low of the recession.”

The report predicts that by 2050 China, the US and India could be by far the largest economies, with a big gap to Brazil in fourth place, ahead of Japan. And by the same time, Russia, Mexico and Indonesia could be bigger than Germany or the UK; Turkey could overtake Italy; and Nigeria could rise up the league table, as could South Africa and Vietnam in the longer term.