The United Nations on Wednesday forecast a fragile and uneven economic recovery in 2010 from the worst recession since World War II, with a global growth rate of 2.4 percent. “The world economy is on the mend,” the UN said in its annual economic forecast, with an increasing number of countries registering positive quarterly growth since the second quarter of 2009. The UN said equity markets have been rebounding, international trade and industrial production have been recovering, and risk premiums on lending have been falling. But the UN's economic experts cautioned that “the recovery is uneven and conditions for sustained growth remain fragile.” The 176-page report on economic prospects for 2010 said the revival has been driven by the effects of the massive stimulus measures injected into the economy since late 2008 by many countries. It warned that “a premature exit from the stimulus measures could cause a double-dip recession.” The report said developing countries, especially those in Asia, are expected to show the strongest recovery this year. “The major developed economies are not expected to provide a strong impulse to global growth in the near term, growing a moderate 1.3 percent on average in 2010.”
