Jean-Pierre Petit assesses political and economic risks in 2020 for MEB members

For the second year running, Jean-Pierre Petit, President of Cahiers Verts de l’Économie, met entrepreneurs from the Principality at a conference organised jointly by the Monaco Economic Board (MEB) and Ascoma Jutheau Husson to give his assessment of what lies ahead for 2020.

“Like in the movies, it starts quite badly and ends quite well,” warned the economist in his preamble. In front of an audience of 150 entrepreneurs, Jean-Pierre Petit started his talk by listing the risks likely to have a negative impact on global growth. A clutch of interdependent threats grouped under the epithet “contemporaneous risks”, it included a blend of economic, political and environmental conditions, as well as migration.

Topics like the US-China trade war, Brexit, the political situation in Italy and France, not to mention the tensions in Iran, were all evoked from an original angle and set in context with impressive clarity by Jean-Pierre Petit.  

But as announced at the start, his conclusion was quite reassuring, with the President of Cahiers Verts de l’Économie citing the US economy’s relative stability - still in the number one slot with 29% of global consumption - helping to maintain trade at a certain level. As for the Principality, he reminded the audience that Monaco was like “an island of prosperity bolstered by economic and regulatory dykes that should enable the country to withstand the most violent movements.”

An optimistic speech that did not shy away from the risks, it gave MEB members a glimpse of the future armed with a fresh hand of cards to put down.

Click HERE to see the photos of the conference