Bank of America’s Top 5 Predictions That Are About To Shake Up the Economy
Written by
Jacob Wade
Edited by
Zuri Anderson
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Bank of America Global Research delivered a comprehensive “state of the world” research paper in February 2025. It outlined the predictions that the next five years will hold for the state of the economy across the globe.
GOBankingRates combed through the report to highlight five insights that could hit the U.S. economy and your wallet by 2030.
1. AI and Robots Will Boost Productivity, but Jobs Will Change
While it’s easy to say “AI will change everything,” in many ways, this is just a reality of the new economy. With the rise of AI agents as well as advanced robotics, many industries are in for a job shake-up. Many jobs will be done by machines and AI tools in places like factories, hospitals and even delivery.
In the report, BofA said of agentic AI: “These fully autonomous agent and robot fleets may ultimately alter verticals heavily reliant on human capital and spark a corporate efficiency revolution that transforms the global economy.”
But these changes don’t mean everyone will lose their job — just that the jobs needed will evolve. This means your pay could increase if you work in the tech or science industry, but this will require upskilling in order to take advantage of the coming changes.
Bottom line: The economy might pick up speed, but only if people can keep up with the changes and get new training to handle new processes created by the rise of AI.
2. Shortages in Energy and Materials Could Raise Prices
We’re already seeing the high power and resource demand that large AI models need, and it will only get worse. The BofA report states “The rise of AI is accelerating demand for data, computing power, bandwidth and expanded infrastructure such as energy, water, commodities and data centers.”
With the demand rising, supply could become constrained, leading to higher prices for natural resources, but also more jobs and technological advancements to extract those resources. Investors will want to pay particular attention to the price of precious metals and suppliers of technology (such as NVIDIA) as the demand continues to increase.
Bottom line: Inflation may calm down overall, but the price of some natural resources that supply energy and tech materials could stay expensive.
3. Big Building Boom in Clean Energy and Infrastructure
Oxford Economics states that the world needs about $94 trillion in new infrastructure by 2040, including new roads, bridges, power lines, and water systems. This is an increased spend of about $500 billion more every year by 2030 — on top of government spending.
Clean energy is a huge focus, with over $1 trillion in private investments already promised since 2021 for things like computer chip factories, clean energy and electric vehicles. Investors will want to pay attention to utilities company investments and expansion in companies that take on huge infrastructure projects (such as commercial construction companies).
Bottom line: Expect high growth and jobs in construction, engineering, and technology, but the U.S. debt will most likely continue to balloon to fund these projects.
4. Countries Will Compete Harder Over Technology
Global competition is already at the forefront of the push into AI and robotic technology, and the next five years won’t slow down. Bank of America said this could lead to more populism, especially with Trump instituting tariffs. This could increase competition over tech, and slow global trade over the next five years.
“Global capital, goods, and services are unlikely to flow as freely as they did in the 1990s/early aughts, and lower supply causes higher prices, all things equal, especially if ‘Europe First’ and ‘China First’ policies take shape,” said the BofA report.
Bottom line: This could lead to nations building independent supply chains to build new technology, and continue increasing import tariffs to encourage building everything within their own borders.
5. Cybercrime Will Get Much Worse
The BofA report states that cybercrime — such as hacking, fake videos and stealing personal data — is expected to cost the world $10.5 trillion by 2025 and $15.6 trillion by 2030. And with the exponential rise of AI deep fake videos and phone calls, these crimes will become more effective and harder to stop.
This rise in online threats will cause both businesses and governments to spend much more on cybersecurity (especially in the U.S.) in areas like banking, defense and infrastructure. This could increase profits for security companies and open the door to online security innovation.
Bottom line: Online risks will drag down growth unless security spending keeps up, but cybersecurity itself could end up becoming its own business sector.
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