Global economic prospects to improve in 2015

The World Bank Group's Global Economic Prospects report says global economic prospects would improve in 2015, but divergent trends pose downside risks?.

According to it, following another disappointing year in 2014, developing countries should see an uptick in growth this year, boosted in part by soft oil prices, a stronger US economy, continued low global interest rates, and receding domestic headwinds in several large emerging markets.

The report was made available to Ghana News Agency on Wednesday by David Theis, World Bank Online Media Briefing Centre Manager.

After growing by an estimated 2.6 per cent in 2014, the global economy is projected to expand by 3 per cent this year, 3.3 per cent in 2016 and 3.2 per cent in 2017, predicts the Bank's twice-yearly flagship.

It said developing countries grew by 4.4 per cent in 2014 and were expected to edge up to 4.8 per cent in 2015, strengthening to 5.3 in 2016 and 5.4 per cent in 2017.

"In this uncertain economic environment, developing countries need to judiciously deploy their resources to support social programmes with a laser-like focus on the poor and undertake structural reforms that invest in people," World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim said.

"It’s also critical for countries to remove any unnecessary roadblocks for private sector investment. The private sector is by far the greatest source of jobs and that can lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty."