Meat bans, soaring gold prices and ‘un-Brexit’? One bank’s ‘outrageous’ predictions for 2023

Meat bans, soaring gold prices and Britain voting to ‘un–Brexit’ could be on the cards for 2023, according to Saxo’s Outrageous Predictions.

There will be a ban on meat production, gold prices will go up and Britain will vote to leave the European Union.

Global economies are expected to shift into "war economy" mode, where economic gains and self-reliance trump globalisation, according to a report by the Danes.

The forecasts looked at how decisions made next year could affect both the global economy and the political agenda.

Gold to hit $3,000

Ole Hansen, Head of Commodity Strategy at Saxo, predicted that the price of spot gold could go up to $3,000 per ounce in three years.

An increasing war economy mentality that makes gold more appealing than foreign reserves, a big investment in new national security priorities, and increasing global liquidity are some of the factors put down by the report.

"I would not be surprised to see commodity driven economies wanting to go to gold because of a lack of better alternatives."

He thinks gold is going to do well.

A surge of that magnitude is unlikely, according to the global commodities intelligence company.

Kirill Kirilenko told CNBC that their price expectations are more moderate.

He said that a less hawkish Fed is likely to lead to a weakerUSD, which could in turn give gold bulls more breathing space and energy to stage a rally next year.

Kirilenko said that it depends on moves by the Fed. He said that any hint of increasinghawkishness from the US central bank would likely cause gold prices to fall.

Britain will vote to un-Brexit

There is a chance that there will be a second referendum on the issue next year.

He told CNBC that he thinks it will have a high chance.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt may take Conservative Party ratings to "unheard-of lows" as their "brutal fiscal programme throws the UK into a crushing recession," according to a market strategist.

This could force Sunak to call a general election if the English and Welsh public rethink their vote to leave the European Union.

Saxo predicts there could be another Brexit referendum on the cards for Britain.

The Labour party could win the election and promise a referendum to reverse the decision to leave the European Union.

Business people say the only thing they have gained from the UK leaving the EU is the U.K.-specificGDPR. He said the rest is just increased red tape.

The director of the think tank UK in a changing Europe said the prediction just doesn't compute.

He doesn't think there will be another referendum and the idea that Keir Starmer would adopt that position is for the birds.

In September, Starmer told a business conference that his party would work on the issue of Britain leaving the European Union.

The result of the referendum resulted in a slim majority of people voting to leave the EU.

He believes that public opinion is turning.

More than half of the 6,174 people who took part in the research thought that the departure from the European Union had gone badly or very badly since the end of 2020.

Meat production to be banned

According to research published by Nature Food, meat is responsible for over 50% of emissions from food production, and with many countries having made net-zero commitments, it is possible at least one country could cut out meat production entirely.

One nation looking to front-run others on its climate credentials may decide to heavily tax meat from 2025.

Meat is responsible for 57% of emissions from food production, according to research published by Nature Food.

I wouldn't be surprised to see schools inDenmark and Sweden banning meat completely, it's definitely going that way He said it sounded crazy for them.

The United Kingdom, the European Union, Japan and Canada have legally binding net-zero pledges.

When contacted by CNBC, the U.K.'s Department for Environment Food and Rural Agriculture said there were no plans to impose a meat tax.

An eventful 2023?

The predictions should not be taken lightly. There was a small chance that each forecast would come true, according to the Saxo trader.

Some of the outrageous predictions made by the bank over the last decade have come to fruition.

In 2015, Saxo predicted that the U.K. would vote to leave the EU and that Germany would enter a recession in 2019.