The world’s stock of wealth is set to keep growing, despite the effects of rising inflation, financial market turmoil and the Ukraine crisis, according to an influential study that says “wealth growth has proven extraordinarily resilient to extreme events”.
The total value of financial and real assets, including property, rose to $530tn at the end of 2021, according to research by BCG, the corporate adviser. In its forecasts for the five years to 2026, it said financial wealth alone is likely to increase at about 5 per cent a year, adding $75tn-$80.6tn to that total.
The prediction takes account of the impact of the recent sharp drops in financial markets, which the authors expect to bounce back. It would come in addition to a 10.6 per cent rise seen last year, the largest increase in a decade, as markets extended their recovery from the March 2020 pandemic shock.