WEF Davos 2023: Global leaders roll up sleeves to tackle a tough 2023

A winter Davos was a must-attend on the calendar of most global leaders until 2022. Post-Covid turbulence and uncertainty led to several postponements and an unusual snowless Davos in the summer of 2022.

This year, Davos is back with great gusto.

The roads of the Swiss village are humming with activity. Fresh snow a day before the start has added an essential ambience to the most high-powered gathering in the world.

Most world leaders realise that global growth will continue to struggle for the next few years. The mood at Davos is to roll up the sleeves and work on an actionable plan to revive growth and stability.

“Leaders around the world recognise that globalisation needs reimagining, not junking, for two reasons. The global economy — the interregional flows of raw material and manufactured goods, and the people, data, and capital this trade requires — is highly unlikely to come undone. No region is an island; every regional economy depends on others for vital goods and services,” McKinsey senior partners Tracy Francis and Daniel Pacthod say in an article on Davos 2023.

McKinsey has identified five themes that will dominate this year. These are resilience to counter uncertainty, sustainability, reimagining globalisation, social inclusion, and space economy.

The World Economic Forum’s (WEF’s) chief economists’ outlook is bleak. Almost two-thirds of the WEF’s community of chief economists forecast a global recession in 2023, twice the number who predicted it in September.

Businesses are expected to cut costs significantly, with 78 per cent of economists in the survey forecasting layoffs at large multinational firms.

Saadia Zahidi, managing director, WEF, said, “Leaders must look beyond today’s crises to invest in food and energy innovation, education and skill development, and in job-creating, high-potential markets of tomorrow. There is no time to lose.”

More than 2,700 leaders and experts from 130 countries will be in several huddles. These include more than 370 public figures from governments and international organisations, more than 1,500 business leaders, and 90-plus innovators. There will also be 56 finance ministers, 19 governors of central banks, 30 trade ministers, and 35 foreign ministers in attendance.

As always, Indian business leaders and ministers are here in strength. A small Chinese delegation is attending as well.

There is much to be done this year. The work has already begun at Davos.