|
January 2008 : Release of the World Bank’s 2008 Global Economic Prospects Report
The 2008 edition of the World Bank’s “Global Economic Prospects” lays out possible and/or probable outlooks for the economy and provides an in-depth analysis of the state of developing countries (DC).
The mid-2007 sub-prime mortgage crisis in the United States plunged the global financial markets into a climate of uncertainty. Developing countries were not affected much by this financial instability due to growth resulting from developmental factors that were often internal (technology, domestic consumption, etc.) as well as a significant rise in export revenues for some of the countries.
The authors of the report are expecting a 7.1% increase this year in real gross domestic product (GDP) for developing economies, versus only 2.2% in affluent countries. After reaching 3.6% in 2007, global growth could be 3.3%. The vitality of DCs is attenuating the effects of the economic downturn in the United States.
Prices should continue to rise under the influence of several factors : the abundance of petroleum revenues in petroleum exporting countries, the higher prices of agricultural products mainly caused by resources being focused on biofuels to the detriment of food-producing cultures, the rising growth of domestic consumption in countries like China and India as well as Europe and Central Asia.
The GEP report gives an important role to the spread of technology in developing countries as a contributing factor to reducing abject poverty.
The state of Sub-Saharan Africa is that GDP increased 6.1% in 2007 and should rise by 6.4% in 2008 spurred by a significant internal demand. The authors project “enthusiastic” investment in 2008 partly due to major projects financed by foreign money.
Read the report in English :
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTGEP2008/Resources/GEP_complete.pdf
World Bank press release on the GEP :
http://go.worldbank.org/HGVFLDDJ60
