World economies are now connected, and trade between them extremely strong, making them vulnerable to contagion risk. Therefore, the financial crisis that began in the summer of 2007 in the United States has engulfed worldwide markets. In the years that followed, most economies have contracted or have significantly slowed down growth.
However, there are economies that have performed very well during the crisis. China, which stunned the world economy with fast growing, is only the third in terms of average growth in 2008-2010, following more modest Qatar and Ethiopia, according to World Bank. Poland, the first country in the euro area in this top is only ranked 62 of 215 countries considered. Moreover, Poland is the only EU country whose economy has not contracted in the three years of crisis. Developments in recent years of Qatar’s GDP growth is due to oil prices, exports of oil and natural gas accounting for 70% of total revenue obtained by the government of the country. Oil and gas resources have transformed the state in the Middle East in the country with the highest income per capita and the lowest unemployment rate in the world. During the financial crisis, the authorities in Qatar have protected the banking sector through direct investment. Furthermore, by organizing the World Cup in 2022, it will develop large infrastructure projects such as metro and highways linking the country to Bahrain, another oil exporter in the region.
Regarding Ethiopia, there are not many things to say. The economy of the state in East Africa is underdeveloped and relies mainly on agriculture, export of coffee having a significant share in the revenues of this country. In 2005 Ethiopia was “forgiven” by the IMF for the debt that made it the most indebted poor country in the world. Although GDP growth is high, Ethiopia recorded the lowest income per capita in the world.
However, in a ranking that takes into account many of the states located on the top 50 positions come from the third world or underdeveloped economies based on exporting raw materials. China and India lead the top countries with well performing economies in time of crisis. Moreover, China has kept during the crisis an annual rate of GDP growth exceeding 9%. Optimists argue that China’s economy will not force-land in the next period and is able to deal with pessimistic scenarios, such as the collapse of the euro area due to the fact that in recent years the country has become less dependent on exports, by developing the internal market. Even this year, according to the instability of the developed economies, UBS, one of the largest Swiss banks, predicts that China’s economy will grow by 9%.
On the other hand, the ranking of economies that have suffered most from the financial crisis, in terms of changes in GDP, leaders are the Baltic states Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. The top five include also Ireland whose economy shrank by an average of 4% in the period under review. Problems if the Baltic states come from current account deficits of the balance of payments. Short-term investments coming mainly from Swedish banks (while maintaining a fixed exchange rate against the euro) have overheated economies of the three countries and led to inflationary pressures and rising unemployment.