World Bank forecasts for growth upbeat. - For the first time in three years, the World Bank has revised its forecasts upwards for global economic growth. In its most recent Global Economic Indicators, it estimates that the global economy is expected to get stronger in 2014 and that growth will speed up in developing countries and high-income economies will finally recover, five years after the beginning of the global financial crisis. According to the World Bank's indicators, global GDP growth is projected to firm from 2.4 percent in 2013 to 3.2 percent this year, stabilising at 3.4 percent and 3.5 percent in 2015 and 2016, respectively. Growth in developing countries will pick up from 4.8 percent in 2013 to a slower than previously expected 5.3 percent this year, 5.5 percent in 2015 and 5.7 percent in 2016. Some countries are expected to achieve higher rates of growth this year, such as Angola (8%), China (7.7%) and India (6.2%). While the pace of growth in developing countries is about 2.2 percentage points lower than during the boom period of 2003-07, the slower growth is not a cause for concern. Almost all of the difference reflects a cooling off of the unsustainable turbo-charged pre-crisis growth, with very little due to an easing of growth potential in developing countries. Moreover, even this slower growth represents a substantial (60 percent) improvement compared with growth in the 1980s and early 1990s. For high-income countries, the drag on growth from fiscal consolidation and policy uncertainty will ease, helping to boost economic growth from 1.3 percent in 2013 to 2.2 percent this year, stabilising at 2.4 percent for each of 2015 and 2016. Amongst high-income economies, the recovery is most advanced in the US, with GDP expanding for 10 quarters now. The US economy is projected to grow by 2.8 percent this year (from 1.8 percent in 2013), firming to 2.9 and 3.0 percent in 2015 and 2016, respectively. Growth in the euro area, after two years of contraction, is projected to be 1.1 percent this year, and 1.4 and 1.5 percent in 2015 and 2016, respectively. The World Bank, however, emphasises that, while the eurozone has weathered the recession, per capita income is continuing to fall in several countries. (IL/transl.fl)