After hopes of an international economic recovery had been repeatedly dashed during a slump period lasting almost three years, 1983 proved to be the long-awaited turnaround year for the world economy. In fact, the upswing came earlier and with greater momentum than had initially been forecast at...

In 1984 the world economy witnessed the kind of high growth rate it had last seen eight years ago. In the industrialised countries real GNP increased by almost 5%. The most pronounced increase was in the USA, although the initial thrust clearly tailed off during the course of the year. Against...