News releaseubs unveils year ahead outlook for 2020 and a 'decade of transformation'

UAE: Headwinds will persist due to trade changes and lower energy prices, but growth is expected to pick up.

Dubai: Stark political choices make the 2020 outlook more difficult to predict, but innovation driven by technology and sustainability will present new winners and losers over the decade ahead, according to UBS Global Wealth Management (GWM)’s new Year Ahead outlook.

UBS GWM’s core recommendations for the year are:

• quality and dividend-paying stocks, as well as domestic and consumer-focused firms that are less exposed to trade and business spending;
• a middle-of-the-road approach to bonds, given very low yields on the safest debt and rising credit risks among high-yield issuers;
• a preference for: precious metals over cyclical commodities; a combination of safe and high-yielding currencies; for low sensitivity to market movements within alternative investments.

Mark Haefele, Chief Investment Officer at UBS Global Wealth Management, said: “Elections, trade tensions and a shifting monetary and fiscal policy mix are likely to define a ‘year of choices’ in 2020. However, investors should also look beyond the next 12 months to a ‘decade of transformation’ where new winners and losers could change how investors allocate capital.”

Ali Janoudi, Head Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa at UBS Global Wealth Management, said: "The impact of trade tensions on investment, the slowdown in the Eurozone, and a more challenging backdrop for the energy market remain major risks particularly for Central and Eastern Europe, and oil-driven economies in the larger region. However, on the upside, the scores of CEEMEA countries in global competitiveness and ease-of-doing-business rankings reveal that much progress has been made in recent years, even though more work needs to be done to attract and maintain human talent and capital."

On the prospects for the UAE, Niels Zilkens, Lead Market Head Arabian Gulf & NRI said: "The UAE economy is on a slow recovery path from the 2014–2017 oil shock, and significant fiscal buffers remain in place. Headwinds will persist this year and next due to lingering trade tensions, the global economic slowdown, low energy prices, OPEC-led production cuts, and tensions with Iran. Growth should, however, pick up somewhat thanks to the ongoing fiscal stimulus measures, spending related to hosting Dubai Expo 2020, rate cuts in line with the Federal Reserve, and continuing diversification efforts.

Over the 2020s, investors will also face a world transformed. Some 790 million people will move to cities. Workforces will shrink by 25 million in the developed world and grow by 470 million in the emerging world. The number of internet users will rise from 4.3 billion to 7.5 billion.

Sustainability and technology challenges related to these and other factors present opportunities, according to the report. Overall, the top longer-term investment themes highlighted in the Year Ahead report are digital transformation, genetic therapies, and water scarcity.

Furthermore, as 2020 approaches, investors are rallying around global standards that will make sustainable investments in particular more approachable for clients. These include the International Finance Corporation’s Operating Principles for Impact Management, as well as the International Institute for Finance’s efforts to simplify sustainable investing terminology. The latter are supported by both the world's largest global wealth manager, UBS, and the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock.

Economic outlook

In UBS GWM's base case, the global economy will grow 3% in 2020, down slightly from 3.1% in 2019, according to the report. Developed market growth will decelerate from 1.6% to 1.1%, while emerging market growth will accelerate from 4.2% to 4.6%. However, two-way uncertainty is high, driven by choices in geopolitics and policymaking, as well as at the ballot box.

The world will also probably keep a lid on inflation, with global inflation decreasing from 3% to 2.9%. The yield on 10-year US Treasuries will decline to 1.8% by the end of 2020, while Brent crude oil prices will decline to USD 60 a barrel.

Country	2019	2020
US	2,2%	1,1%
Brazil	0,9%	2,5%
Germany	0,5%	0,6%
France	1,3%	1,0%
Italy	0,2%	0,4%
Spain	2,0%	1,7%
UK	1,2%	0,9%
Switzerland	0,7%	0,9%
Russia	1,0%	1,8%
China	6,1%	5,7%
Japan	0,5%	0,6%
India	5,9%	6,5%

UBS Group AG and UBS AG

Media contact

Switzerland:       +41-44-234 85 00
UK:                        +44-207-567 47 14/
Americas:           +1-212-882 58 58
APAC:                   +852-297-1 82 00
www.ubs.com/media

FleishmanHillard
Rania Katsigianni
Tel. +971 552694918, +973 35113850, rania.katsigianni@fleishman.com 

© Press Release 2019