The International Economy

General

The global economic climate is generally positive, although growth has decelerated in most major economies in recent months. Global growth continues to be rather unbalanced. Relatively weak performance continues to plague the Euro Area economy in particular, while Japan has recently

US Economy

Preliminary figures indicate that the US economy, as measured by GDP, grew by 4.4 per cent in 2004, representing its strongest year of growth since 1999. This robust growth was largely driven by substantial increases in investment in the economy, particularly with regard to spending on equipment and software. Growth in the US economy was reinforced by a 3.8 per cent rise in consumer spending. The weakening value of the dollar on foreign exchange markets, as well as the growing international economy, were key drivers of an 8.5 per cent jump in the volume of US exports in 2004. However, this positive external impulse was more than offset by quite rapid growth in the volume of imports, which increased by 9.9 per cent in 2004.