Analysis: The US government shutdown pushes the world into a data blind spot, with global risks escalating over time.

Odaily News Adam Posen, the director of the Peterson Institute for International Economics and a former decision-maker at the Bank of England, stated that the government shutdown itself and the turmoil surrounding the Bureau of Labor Statistics “has exacerbated the general doubts about the governance and reliability of the U.S… This is important. It will ultimately affect reserve management and monetary decision-making, and impact the volatility outlook that was previously non-existent in the U.S.” As a significant gap emerges in the data that covers about a quarter of the global economy, the longer the government shutdown lasts, the more unclear the outlook will become. “Of course, there is still a wealth of information available, and decision-makers are putting a lot of effort into collecting micro data and anecdotal evidence about the U.S.,” said Robert Kahn, global macro head at Eurasia Group. “But how best to integrate them, and importantly, how the market will react to this information, are key unknowns. Over time, uncertainty continues to accumulate, and the risk of making mistakes is rising.” (Jin10)