Against the background of the dramatic aggravation of the financial crisis the world economy is in a downturn. After four years of strong economic growth the economy already cooled down in 2007. World trade has expanded only marginally in recent months. A further weakening in 2009 is already...

The world economy continues to expand at a vigorous rate for the fifth year in a row, with real output growth exceeding 5 percent. Downside risks to global economic activity have increased mainly because of the aggravation of the real estate crisis in the USA, where real estate prices have been...

After the deepest decline in decades world trade has recovered since the early summer of 2009. However, most recently its volume has still been about one eighth below the peak of April 2008. The strong impulses for the world economy initially originate from the emerging economies in Asia. China...