The global economy is likely to grow 3.6 per cent this year. That number itself if not significant (world economic growth in 2003 was over 6 per cent), but what is important is that this year’s figure presents an eight-year high. Given the events of the last decade, which started with the Great Recession, a steady increase of 3.6 is nothing to sneer at. Take a moment to appreciate that.

Done? Good, since that moment is now over, it is time to address the challenges that are mounting and represent the biggest threat to the global economy since at least 2005 — and arguably longer.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the same group that released the global growth figures last week, is also warning of the dangers of slow private sector activity, which is partly responsible for stagnating wages, and growing debt.

The catalyst for these particular threats is the same catalyst that caused the sub-prime and global financial crisis: Low interest rates, often combined with high-risk investment. It took only a few years for Alan Greenspan’s low interest policy to create a real estate bubble in the 2000s in the United States, which was turned into a global crisis by speculative betting in derivatives markets. Now almost 15 years later, we are still unable to untangle ourselves from this cheap-money policy. Bubbles have formed. You need only to look at the current BitCoin phenomenon to know that.

We cannot rely on central bank policies to help the world economies either, as it is unlikely that we will see any large rate increase in the near future, due to concerns over inflation.

What the world needs is real economic growth, driven by private sector trade and the embracing of the digital economy. However, even that is being threatened. Impatience with the world’s slow recovery since 2012 combined with populist politics are pushing trade tariffs that would hurt global trade.

There have been moments of clarity, however. Leaders from Asia to South America found a way to make the Trans-Pacific Partner a reality just a few month ago. That will create a trade block that will stretch from Malaysia to Chile, and it will happen despite the refusal of the US to join.

More activity and leadership like this is needed. Free trade is the best and more sustainable way to grow jobs and ensure a stable global economy. Otherwise, that 3.6 per cent growth rate could start to evaporate.