World economic growth is expected to increase more than 3 percent next year with eastern Europe showing the first signs of recovery since the collapse of communism, according to a U.N. report.
The report said that oil supplies for the next 15 years were expected to meet world demand at prices comparable to those of today and that exports of electronic products were "running away" from all other manufactured goods."The global economy is in the strongest condition in many years," said the annual U.N. World Economic and Social Survey, released late Wednesday. "Although the rate of growth of output is not very rapid - it is about at the average of the 1980s - it is unusually widespread."
Developing countries are in the fourth year of 5 percent growth rates, a trend expected to continue, especially in Asia. But many sub-Saharan African nations are excluded from this rapid growth, mainly because overpopulation has nearly outstripped per capita output, the report said.
In Latin America, the gross domestic product is expected to drop from 4.4 percent in 1994 to 1.75 percent in 1995 due to fallout from the Mexican currency crisis.
The 15 developing states with the highest expected economic output in 1995, ranging from 19 to 5.87 percent in descending order, are: China, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, South Korea, Indonesia, Taiwan, Papua New Guinea, Burma, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, Uganda, India and the Phil-ip-pines.
The U.N. survey predicted growth in the world economy at 2.75 percent in 1995 and 3.25 percent in 1996.
Major industrial nations, which account for almost three fourths of the world output, mirror the world outlook with 2.75 percent economic growth for 1995 and 3 percent in 1996.
Japan ranks last with an 0.6 percent growth rate in 1994 and 1.5 percent predicted for this year compared to the United States with 4.1 percent in 1994 and 3 percent for 1995.
The report said the persistent 7.5 percent unemployment rate in industrial states - 10 percent in Europe - was "a major cause for concern" as governments gave priority to maintaining the confidence of financial markets.