What lies ahead?

A year ago, the world remained in the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Omicron variant had just emerged. 12 months on and the pandemic has largely subsided, only to be replaced by a brutal war in Ukraine and inflation reaching multi-decade highs. This prompted central banks to make aggressive interest rate hikes in 2022, with more expected in 2023, along with a mild recession in the economy.