Growth in the world economy is still relatively strong, although US growth has slowed slightly. Inflationary pressures are clearly more visible than previously and the general trend for global monetary policy is for a tighter stance. Prices continue to be driven by energy prices, although there are few signs of this feeding through into wage bargains. Japan and China once again have performed strongly in the East while the Euro Area has shown significant improvements. There is still some concern over the pace of private consumption growth in Germany. The outlook for the world economy is still optimistic over the next two years
