Economist: The momentum of investments related to AI is stronger than expected, to some extent cushioning the impact of the oil shock on global economic activity.

Chief economist of global rating agency Fitch, Kurlton, told reporters, "The oil shock caused by the Middle East conflict has dragged down the prospects for global economic growth. With inflation intensifying, squeezing real wages, suppressing consumption, and increasing corporate input costs, Fitch will downgrade its forecast for global growth for 2026 by 0.2 percentage points to 2.4%." However, he also emphasized, "We are also in a very clear period of prosperity, with US AI-related IT investment growing by 18% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026. There is evidence that related investments in other areas are also growing rapidly. Global semiconductor sales are driving global trade with the boom in technology, growing by 80% year-on-year in March. The momentum of AI-related investment is stronger than expected, to some extent cushioning the impact of the oil shock on global economic activities."