Rotterdam, The Netherlands, Europe Container Terminals, terminal Maasvlakte/Wikimedia
The world economy seems to have lived through a spate of political and natural tremors in 2017 as the year concludes with a broad economic uptick in several regions and countries and a trade rebound.
According to IMF, the year is “ending on a high note, with GDP continuing to accelerate over much of the world in the broadest cyclical upswing since the start of the decade.”
An analysis posted on the International Monetary Fund’s website says economic growth accelerated in about three quarters of countries, which marks the highest share since 2010.
“Even more important, some of the countries that had high unemployment for some time, for example, several in the euro area, are participating in the growth surge and experiencing strong employment growth. Some of the larger emerging market economies, such as Argentina, Brazil, and Russia, exited their recessions,” the IMF blog says.
In terms of per capita terms, it adds, the growth in almost half of emerging market and developing economies—especially the smaller ones—lagged behind advanced economies, and almost a quarter have seen declines.
The countries that faced challenges included fuel exporters and low-income economies suffering from civil conflicts or natural disasters.
Another source of optimism for the world economy is the positive trajectory of the global trade.
“Boosted by a recovery in investment, global trade growth rebounded from its slowest pace since 2001, other than during the recession of 2009,” the analysis says while noting that weak capital spending in the energy sector had been an important contributor to the weakness in global investment in 2016.
But despite these two huge positives, the world is still grappling with conflicts in the oil-rich Middle East, the North Korean nuclear threats, and political aftershocks, and sustaining the growth would require robust growth across regions, and implementation of action-oriented policies in the countries struggling to step up their growth rates.
