What is going to happen to the world economy this year? The most important points on the short-term outlook were made by my colleague, Wolfgang Münchau, last week (“The good, the bad and the ugly scenarios for the year ahead”). Let us ask, instead, a bigger question: how strong and sustainable is the underlying dynamic of the world economy?
As Lawrence Summers noted in his most recent column (“A lack of fear is cause for concern”, December 27), the world economy in aggregate grew more during the past five years than in any five-year period since the second world war. Growth is not merely strong. It is also widely shared. In 2006, according to the World Bank’s Global Economic Prospects, the economies of the high-income countries probably grew by 3.1 per cent, with the US achieving 3.2 per cent, Japan 2.9 per cent and even the sluggish eurozone 2.4 per cent. Meanwhile, the economies of the developing countries, led by the rising giants, China and India, expanded by 7.0 per cent, after 6.6 per cent in 2005 and 7.2 per cent in 2004.
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