Ifo Economic Forecast 2013/2014: Favourable Perspectives for the German Economy

Since last autumn the world economy has stabilised at a relatively low level. As a result, world industrial production and world trade hardly lost any impetus in the winter months, after a steady drop in their growth rates over the previous two years. The stabilization was primarily due to relatively robust economic developments in the USA, Japan and the key emerging economies, which offset the recession in the euro area. The pace of world growth should pick up moderately over the summer. These are the indications of the Ifo World Economic Survey, as well as numerous other early indicators. All in all, world gross domestic product should increase by 2.9% this year and 3.7% next year. World trade is likely to increase by just 2.6% in 2013, followed by 5.5% in 2014.