As we enter the last quarter of this year, Leen looks ahead to 2013 and the challenges facing three major economies.

Fiscal cliff? Stimulus?
In the United States, there is the prospect of a “fiscal cliff” – or the combination of tax increases and government spending cuts.
In the Eurozone, short-term economic indicators are “not going in the right direction” and an uncertain political environment looks set to raise questions for quite some time.
In China, there are questions over when the government will start to stimulate growth again – possibly not until a new administration takes office in March next year.

Growth forecasts
ING economics department forecasts 1.8% gross domestic product (GDP) for the US in 2013. For the Eurozone it forecasts flat GDP (0.0%) and 0.9% for China.