Multiple threats to the global economy topped the worries of the world’s well-heeled at the annual Davos think-fest on Monday, with some flagging the risk of a worldwide recession. Political and business leaders gathering for the World Economic Forum (WEF) meet against a backdrop of inflation at its highest level in a generation in major economies including the United States, Britain and Europe. These price rises have undermined consumer confidence and shaken the world’s financial markets, prompting central banks including the U.S. Federal Reserve to raise interest rates. Meanwhile, the repercussions on oil and food markets of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February – which Moscow describes as a “special military operation” – and COVID-19 lockdowns in China with no clear end have compounded the gloom. “We have at least four crises, which are interwoven. We have high inflation … we have an […]