Tag: FAO

Pension Funding Gap Set to Overtake Global GDP

The World Economic Forum has calculated that pension systems across the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, the Netherlands, Canada and Australia will have a joint shortfall of $224 trillion by 2050. If you add China and India to the equation, the combined gap nearly doubles to $400 trillion. That’s five times the size of the current global economic output. Such a shortfall places severe risks on the incomes and quality of life of future generations while setting the industrialized world up for one of the most widespread pension crises in history.

The Global Pension Crisis

June_06_2017-Chart2-01

 

Source: Mercer (2017)

Funding this shortfall will not be easy with global debt levels rising to more than 325% of GDP in 2017, reaching an eye-watering $217 trillion.…

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Signs of Recovery for Global Commodity Markets

Although global commodity markets have been under stress for some time, investors are beginning to look at recent developments more opportunistically. According to the World Bank, prices for most commodities strengthened in the first quarter of 2017. Crude oil is expected to rise to an average of $55 per barrel (bbl) in 2017 from $43/bbl in 2016. Metal prices are projected to increase by 16% as a result of stronger demand in China and agricultural commodity prices are beginning to show early signs of recovery and growth. So why the positive forecasts when diversified commodity indices are down 5% so far this year?…

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All Eyes on Agriculture

“Emerging nations have great hunger and meeting this growing demand for food will require great investments to strengthen agriculture and make it more productive.”

Marc Garrigasait, President and Director of the Panda Agriculture and Water Fund, 2016

The growing demand for food across emerging economies is a point of great interest for the world’s largest institutional investors. Sovereign wealth funds are expected to drive a four-fold increase in agriculture investments over the next decade to a total of $240 billion.

A study of the world’s most lucrative Sovereign Wealth Funds by the Esade Business School, KPMG and Icex-Invest found that the current trends in the agricultural investment space point towards an impressive rise in asset allocation from $60 billion to $240 billion in the last decade. …

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