Growth Summit 2023: What is resilient growth, and how can we achieve it?

The global economy is in a fragile state. The COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s war on Ukraine, high inflation and distress in the banking sector have all put pressure on economic growth.

This fragility is highlighted in the World Economic Forum's latest Chief Economists Outlook, published 2 May.

Enabling resilient growth, which entails ensuring growth is inclusive and aligns with global environmental objectives, was one of the core themes at the World Economic Forum’s Growth Summit, which took place in Geneva, Switzerland, 2-3 May 2023.

The Growth Summit brought together leaders from business, government, civil society, international organizations and academia to discuss the frameworks, solutions, commitments and alliances that can help build the structures the world needs to support resilient growth.

Here were some of the key sessions that touched on resilient growth:

The fabric of globalization has become frayed in recent years by domestic political factors, geo-economic shifts and post-pandemic concerns about supply-chain resilience.

In this session, panelist explored what the future of global integration looks like, and who stands to gain and lose from the changes under way.

Leaders face the triple challenge of boosting growth, mitigating the climate crisis and driving job creation.

In this session, participants explored how these goals pull in different directions, and discuss the possibility of a window of opportunity in which the green transition could open a new phase of jobs-rich growth.

The overlapping crises of recent years have highlighted multiple areas where the drive for efficiency has eroded resilience and left economies and societies vulnerable to risks.

As leaders seek to boost growth, panelists explored what lessons should be learned to ensure that the world is better prepared to anticipate and withstand the next global crisis.

Against a backdrop of global fragmentation, many countries are deepening the economic relationships closest to home.

Top trade and business officials discussed what policies and strategies are needed to ensure that greater regional cooperation delivers new jobs and more resilient growth.

Active industrial policy is moving up government agendas around the world.

The shift is prompted by factors including the green transition and the need to improve the resilience of value chains.

In this session, experts explored what the implications of the return of industrial policy for economic growth and development, and discussed how countries can leverage potential opportunities without exacerbating geo-economic tensions.

Against a backdrop of persistently sluggish growth, the global economy and markets continue to be roiled by crisis after crisis.

In this session, top economists examine the trends that will determine the prospects for the year ahead.

These articles and reports provide useful and important information for those looking to better understand and implement plans to enable resilient economic growth.

The advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution has led to wide-ranging opportunities from advanced technologies for business and government. This report looks at how a proactive approach and greater strategic planning are required to create the “markets of tomorrow” that meet key societal needs.

As we stand on the edge of a low-growth and low-cooperation era, tougher trade-offs threaten to erode climate action, human development and future resilience. The Global Risks Report 2023 explores some of the most severe risks we may face over the next decade.

This insight report showcases the many ways in which the social economy, fuelled by social innovation, can tackle some of the most pressing development challenges of our time while contributing to jobs and sustained economic activity. It says we need to apply the lessons of the social economy to the collective process of creating more inclusive and sustainable national and global economies.

Sustainable investing covers a range of activities, from putting cash into green energy projects to investing in companies that demonstrate social values such as social inclusion or good governance by having, for example, more women on their boards. Sustainable finance has a key role to play in the world’s transition to net zero by channelling private money into carbon-neutral projects.