Tiina Lee, the CEO of Citi U.Okay., expects international development to stay resilient this 12 months, telling CNBC {that a} “recessionary atmosphere” is “not our base case.”
Markets have continued to carry out in an orderly manner, regardless of the financial and geopolitical upheaval attributable to the Iran battle, which entered its 60th day on Tuesday, Lee mentioned.
She highlighted a ripening alternative set throughout AI, information infrastructure, and vitality, coupled with report mergers and acquisitions volumes within the first quarter.
However, talking with CNBC’s “Squawk Field Europe” on Tuesday, Lee acknowledged {that a} deeper and longer battle stays a dwell danger for markets and economies.
The conflict has pushed Brent crude costs above $100 a barrel, in comparison with round $70 in February. If hostilities proceed for the rest of this 12 months and into 2027, the chance is that oil surges in the direction of $120 or $150.
“That is a distinct state of affairs,” Lee mentioned. The worldwide oil benchmark crept as much as $111 a barrel in early buying and selling Tuesday.
Nevertheless, she underscored the resilience within the international financial system, significantly throughout the U.S., and mentioned she expects development to stay “pretty resilient” for the rest of 2026, at round 2.7%.
“A recessionary atmosphere will not be our base case,” she mentioned.
The U.S. financial system’s resilience has been “phenomenal” within the face of prevailing macro headwinds because the begin of the 12 months, Lee mentioned, including that AI has supplied a “large development spurt”, whereas additionally pinpointing alternatives throughout information infrastructure and vitality.
“We’re in the course of probably the most vital funding cycle in a technology,” she mentioned. “There’s a lot to play for.”
She added: “After we communicate to CEOs, they’re simply as bullish when it comes to alternative for their very own corporations, and in addition when alternatives make deep strategic sense, what you’ve got seen during the last quarter is that, despite these headwinds, we have seen report M&A volumes.”
North America is the important thing export marketplace for multinational corporations, Lee mentioned, including that “the scale and scale of that market makes it one thing you’ll be able to’t ignore.”
Brent crude.
She mentioned North America stays a key export marketplace for multinational corporations, significantly amongst Chinese language corporations. “Each single Chinese language firm, their primary goal, when it comes to an export market, is North America.”
Chinese language corporations have made “super progress” in areas equivalent to superior robotics and manufacturing, Lee added.
She sees alternatives for collaboration, pointing to scrub vitality, battery manufacturing and monetary providers.
Lee additionally cited the U.Okay.’s commerce mission to China, and the creation of the UK-China Monetary Working Group, as a possible driver.
“The power to collaborate with markets equivalent to China is basically alternative for the U.Okay.,” she mentioned
