The global economy is turning a corner but faces a long road ahead to attain strong and sustainable growth. Global GDP growth slowed substantially throughout 2022, but several of the factors weighing negatively are now unwinding. Falling energy prices and headline inflation, easing supply bottlenecks and the reopening of China's economy, coupled with strong employment and relatively resilient household finances, all contribute to a projected recovery. Nevertheless, the recovery will be weak by past standards. We project global growth to be 2.7% in 2023, with a modest pick-up to 2.9% in 2024 – both well below the average growth rate in the decade preceding the COVID-19 pandemic.

Global economic developments have begun to improve, but the upturn remains fragile. Lower energy prices are helping to bring down headline inflation and ease the strains on household budgets, business and consumer sentiment are picking up from low levels, and the earlier-than-expected full reopening of China has provided a boost to global activity. At the same time, core inflation is proving persistent, reflecting higher profits in some sectors and still-elevated cost pressures in resilient labour markets. The impact of higher interest rates around the world is also increasingly being felt, particularly in property and financial markets. Signs of stress have started to appear in some financial market segments as investors reassess risks, and credit conditions are tightening. Global GDP growth is projected to moderate from 3.3% in 2022 to 2.7% in 2023, before edging up to a still subdued 2.9% in 2024. Restrictive monetary policy will constrain demand growth for some time to come, with the full effects from policy tightening in 2022 only appearing later this year or in the early part of 2024. Annual consumer price inflation in the G20 economies is projected to decline from 7.8% in 2022 to 6.1% in 2023 and 4.7% in 2024, helped by lower energy and food retail prices, moderating demand pressures and lower supply bottlenecks. Core inflation is projected to be relatively sticky but ease gradually towards target in the major advanced economies by the end of next year.

The COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, and the current cost-of-living crisis have affected women’s incomes, job opportunities and security (OECD, 2020a; European Parliament, 2023; Charlton, 2023). Long-standing factors such as climate change, the digital transition and population ageing also entail risks of widening gender gaps. Women are more vulnerable to economic shocks, may be less well-placed to seize the opportunities associated with the green and digital transitions as they tend to specialise less in scientific knowledge than men, and shoulder a disproportionate share of care for elderly relatives. This chapter draws on a wide range of previous OECD studies on gender equality to document employment and wage gender gaps across OECD countries, and their recent evolutions and underlying factors. It subsequently reviews policies put in place by governments to tackle gender inequality and outlines directions for further action.