Emerging markets in
Asia and Africa still reign supreme: They're at the top of global growth
projections over the next two years.
By comparison, the
U.S. and U.K., which combined account for about a quarter of global growth, are
expected to grow 3.1 percent and 2.6 percent this year, respectively. The euro
area probably will expand just 1.2 percent as European Central Bank President
Mario Draghi deals with a fragile Greece and embarks on a bond-purchase program
to stimulate the region's growth.
China still remains
the fastest-growing G-20 nation, even though the Asian economy is no longer
expanding at the pace it did a few years ago. China's economy grew 7.3 percent
in the fourth quarter of 2014 from a year earlier, and is expected to slow to 7
percent in 2015.
To counter that slowdown,
People's Bank of China policy makers are boosting monetary stimulus. The
central bank cut its benchmark interest rate in November for the first time
since 2012. This month officials lowered by 50 basis points the deposit reserve
ratio, which is the amount of reserves that banks need to keep on hand.
Nigeria, Africa's
largest economy, is projected to expand 4.9 percent this year, according to the
Bloomberg survey. Kenya will probably grow 6 percent in 2015, even as
unemployment and poverty remain stubbornly high, with over 40 percent of
Kenyans living below the poverty line.
U.S. growth forecasts
for 2015 are coalescing around 3 percent even as the dollar soars to its
highest level in more than a decade. As growth picks up, the Federal Reserve is
weighing whether to raise interest rates for the first time since 2006. Their
benchmark federal funds rate has remained near zero since December 2008.
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