Global GDP increased by 2.5 per cent in 2014, up from 2.4 per cent in 2013 (see table 1.1). Although positive,this growth remains below the pre-crisis levels with almost all economies having shifted to a lower growth path. Growth in the advanced economies accelerated to 1.6 per cent, while GDP in both the developing economies and the economies in transition expanded at the slower rates of 4.5 per cent and 0.9 per cent, respectively. The emerging recovery in the advanced economies was uneven, led by accelerated growth in the United states (2.4 per cent) and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern lreland (3.0 per cent) and a fragile recovery in the European Union (1.3 per cent). Meanwhile, GDP growth in Japan came to a standstill due, among other factors, to the 2014 consumption tax increase and the fading away of the effect of the fiscal and monetary stimulus introduced in 2013