Underlying figures distorted by productivity variable

Having examined the balance of payments for financial flows and income, direct investment data, and multinational enterprise (MNE) activity - coupled with other supplemental statistics - and setting these beside those forecast trends derived from typical cyclical pattern expectations, in the context of this emergent variable, the results have confounded most senior analysts’ projections. To what extent this departure from average median quantities can be absorbed by the economy before central banks will need to respond by pulling the levers of direct intervention is not yet clear and the markets were slow to respond to the news. However, a number of observers have said that this could be the start of a worrying development.