At Bauma, Liebherr reported that although turnover fell by 16.9% there was no change in the size of the workforce and investments reached EUR656 million. “After the severe collapse of the international economy in the 2008-2009 winter half-year period, economic activity gradually stabilised by midway through 2009, and in the last two quarters of the year the lowest point in the economic crisis had largely been overcome. In 2009 the world economy shrank by 2.1%. In the industrial countries the drop was 3.4%, and more severe in the Eurozone and Japan than in the USA. Developments in the threshold countries had a stabilising effect. According to provisional estimates, the Chinese economy grew by almost 9% and the Indian economy by approximately 7%. In Brazil, economic performance in 2009 almost equalled the previous year’s level, whereas in Russia the effects of the financial and economic crisis were more evident, with a drop of about 8% in gross national product. Overall economic performance rose slightly in the threshold countries. The drop of 12% in 2009 was the most severe downturn suffered by world trade since the end of WWII. (more…)