The global economy continued to expand during 2014 at a moderate and uneven pace, as the
prolonged recovery process from the global financial crisis was still saddled with the
unfinished post-crisis adjustments. The global recovery was also exacerbated by some new
challenges, including a number of unexpected shocks, such as the heightened geopolitical
conflicts in different parts of the world and the most recent eruption of the Ebola pandemic.
Growth of world gross product (WGP) is estimated to be 2.6 per cent in 2014, marginally
better than the growth of 2.4 per cent registered in 2013, but lower than the 2.9 per cent
projected in the previous LINK Global Economic Outlook of June 2014.1 In the outlook,
premised on a set of assumptions (box 1) and subject to a number of uncertainties and
downside risks (see the section on uncertainties and risks), the global economy is expected to
strengthen in the following two years, with WGP projected to grow by 3.1 and 3.4 per cent in
2015 and 2016, respectively (figure 1 and table 1).