It's not a great day for businesses anywhere, with the International Monetary Fund predicting that the world economy will grow at its slowest rate this year since World War Two. In a gloomy forecast, the IMF is tipping growth of just 0.5%. The fund is calling on governments to step up efforts to stimulate their economies, and it looks like world leaders are listening - so there is still hope. All eyes are now on new US president Barack Obama.

Some readers may have missed out on some of Roger Renstrom's extensive report on ProMat last week. In the interests of brevity, only the first part of his report was included in the newsletter, with the full version only visible in the online edition. Unfortunately, many readers may have missed the link to the full article. If you want to read the full report, click here.