Source page: McKinsey & Company
Commentary
Gloomy days ahead?
Economics | Risk
May 3, 2022 – Geopolitical conflicts loom large for executives. In a new McKinsey Global Survey, almost 60 percent of respondents cite geopolitical conflicts as a risk to near-term growth in their own economies. That’s leading to a relatively less positive sentiment for the overall economy, where, for the third quarter in a row, respondents are less likely to believe that economic conditions, either global or domestic, will improve in the months ahead.
To read the article, see “The coronavirus effect on global economic sentiment,” March 30, 2022.
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Visual form
Multi-panel bar-chart dashboard.
Layout / body structure
The chart is organized in two tiers. A ranked bar chart runs across the top, and two smaller diverging bar panels sit underneath it, one for the global economy and one for respondents’ own countries; read the risk ranking first, then move down and compare the two outlook panels month by month.
What is being compared
The top chart compares the main risks respondents see to economic growth in their countries over the next 12 months. The lower pair compares whether respondents expect conditions to get better or worse over the next six months, separating views of the global economy from views of their own countries.
Measurement system
Every measure on the page is a respondent share in percent. The top panel uses bar height to rank risks, while the lower panels use stacked vertical bars above and below a centerline to split better and worse expectations across June 2021, September 2021, December 2021, and March 2022.
Visible structure inside the graphic
The top section has ten vertical bars arranged from the biggest cited risk at the left to the smallest at the right. The bottom row repeats the same visual grammar twice: white bars rise above the baseline for better conditions, blue bars drop below it for worse conditions, and the four time points step across each panel from left to right.
Main takeaway from the visual
Geopolitical instability dominates the risk ranking, and the lower panels show sentiment deteriorating sharply by March 2022. The global-economy panel flips from overwhelmingly positive to almost evenly split, while the respondents’ countries panel also darkens as worse expectations rise across the sequence.
Key standout values or extremes
Geopolitical instability and conflicts lead the risk ranking at 57 percent, ahead of inflation at 38, volatile energy prices at 33, and supply-chain disruptions at 31. In the lower panels, the global-economy view falls from 81 percent better versus 6 percent worse in June 2021 to 43 percent better versus 40 percent worse in March 2022, while country-level optimism falls from 79 versus 9 to 54 versus 29.
Controls / sequence, when applicable
This is a static chart image with no in-chart controls to operate.
Companion media, when applicable
There is no separate companion audio or video; the chart image is the full visual on this page.