Pictures of a Global Recession
The graphic below, supplied by the New York Times, provides a strong image of how the global recession is affecting countries around the world. For December of ’08, the three largest exporters in the world , China ($105.7 billion), the U.S. ($98.1 billion), and Germany ($96.1 billion) all showed losses from December of ’07. China slowed 3% in December and 2% in November. The U.S. slowed 4% from a year year, and Germany dropped 21%.
Taiwan, which exports high-value-added merchandise (computers and expensive electronics) suffered the most with a 42% loss. This is particularly devastating to Taiwan since exports as a percentage of their GDP are close to 50%. The math of this relationship shows a 20% annualized decline in GDP for the month of December.
South Korea lost 17%, again, like Taiwan, a nation heavily dependent on exports. Political unrest in both these countries may surface if it doesn’t get better, soon. One can also see from these pictures why the stock markets in these countries have crashed, along with their currencies.
The most troubling news, though, is that mot economists look for things to get worse before they get better.
