EIU Global Forecasting Service Mini Review: Part 2
Jinfo Blog

By Penny Crossland

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Introduction
The Global Forecasting Service puts all EIU's forecasting data into one online facility, providing projections and analysis for trade, exchange rates, commodity prices and economic performance. Part 1 of this review provides an overview of the site's six topic sections. Part 2 looks at the GFS report formats and features.

Report options and features
From the GFS dashboard, users can choose to view and download a summary or full version of EIU's latest Global Outlook report, as well as a 12-page Global Economic Outlook PowerPoint presentation.

As mentioned in part one of this review, most GFS sections provide key data in table format, which can be printed or downloaded into an Excel spreadsheet. Figure 2, for example, shows a table with commodity price forecasts.




Figure 2: GFS Commodity Price Forecasts Table

The interactive charting feature (Figure 3) is very impressive. It allows users to create charts for a five, ten, or 20 year period, for a number of data points: GDP, inflation, trade growth, exchange rates, interest rates and commodities. Charts can be printed, converted into tables or downloaded into Excel. Users can launch the charting feature from the main dashboard or from the brief charts within each topic section.



Figure 3: GFS Interactive Charting Feature

The video facility (see Figure 4) provides around six months' worth of webcasts from senior EIU analysts on topical economic issues. The current videos available cover topics such as the Greek crisis, jobless figures and interest rate rises. Videos vary in length from four minutes to around 10 minutes.



Figure 4: GFS video feature

Timeliness
Articles and data are updated regularly once a month. While this will be sufficient for most users, it may be an issue for those who need completely up-to-date information. The main page states clearly when the next forecast is due - they are published about every four weeks in the middle of each month. The articles in the ‘World in focus' section are the most up-to-date: the most recent article was dated June 29, summarizing the outcome of the G20 summit. Users are able to sign up to email updates, if they wish to be alerted to new content. The World in focus articles are also available via an RSS feed.

I found the archive facility very useful: past Global Economic Reports are available in PDF going back to January 1996.

VIP's View
GFS provides users with a wealth of data and analysis, but manages to present the information in a simple, yet effective format. What makes this service so appealing is that while content on the main page is concise, each item leads to in-depth information. The clear layout and speedy results make up for the lack of a search facility. In all, I found GFS to be a very useful tool, which I have no doubt I will be referring to frequently. The fact that the service is free is also an added bonus.

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