Business | Economy
Worldwide signs show economy is recovering
Improving vital signs across the globe raised hopes on Friday that the economy was responding after months in intensive care.
- Reuters
- Published: 23:13 May 29, 2009
- Image Credit:
- Sultan Bin Nasser Al Suwaidi, UAE Central Bank Governor, said in Morocco on Friday that "the UAE economy is very competitive."
London/Marrakech: Improving vital signs across the globe - from Japanese factory output and British house prices to German retail sales and Indian GDP - raised hopes on Friday that the economy was responding after months in intensive care.
Oil rose to a six-month high, trading above $66 per barrel yesterday, on track for its largest monthly percentage gain in more than a decade. Oil prices have jumped around 30 per cent this month, buoyed by expectations of a global economic recovery and a bullish price outlook from Opec.
Meanwhile, in Morocco, Sultan Bin Nasser Al Suwaidi, UAE Central Bank Governor, commented on Friday on reports about the real estate sector in the country. "There are reports exaggerating problems of the sector but we are OK. We are not worried about deflation. The UAE economy is very competitive," he said.
Japanese factory output rose 5.2 per cent in April, and manufacturers forecast further gains, while South Korean industrial output expanded for a fourth straight month, data showed.
German retail sales figures pointed tentatively, and unexpectedly, in the same direction, with a 0.5 per cent month-on-month rise in April. The retail figures for March were also revised upwards. In Britain, the consumer confidence index remained steady at -27 after three months of gains.
Indian GDP beat forecasts with growth of 5.8 per cent year-on-year in the March quarter, with strength in services and construction outstripping declining manufacturing.
Not all data were encouraging. A report by the International Labour Organisation showed the number of unemployed people worldwide is likely to rise to between 210 million and 239 million this year. Even so, stock markets were lifted across the globe.
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