World Economic Growth

The world economy, or global economy, generally refers to the economy, which is based on economies of all of the world's countries. The World Economy concentrates on trade policy issues - on a country basis, regionally and globally - it also covers broader issues such as exchange rates, IMF/World Bank, debt, environmental and other international issues as they relate to trade. An economy consists of the economic system of a country or other area; the labour, capital and land resources; and the manufacturing, trade, distribution, and consumption of goods and services of that area. An economy may also be described as a spatially limited and social network where goods and services are exchanged according to demand and supply between participants by barter or a medium of exchange with a credit or debit value accepted within the network. There are a number of ways to measure economic activity of a nation. These methods of measuring economic activity include:

Consumer spending Gross domestic product GNP Stock Market Interest Rate National Debt Rate of Inflation Unemployment Balance of Trade National Income Science and technology

Challenges to the Global Economy: Energy costs Natural disasters Economic policies Wars Share prices Uncertainty

Economic growth of Indian sub-continent: The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asia situated mostly on the Indian tectonic plate. The countries of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh prior to 1947, the three nations were historically combined and constituted British India. It almost always also includes Nepal, Bhutan, and the island country of Sri Lanka and may also include Afghanistan and the island country of Maldives.

Economy: South Asia is the poorest region on the earth after Sub-Saharan Africa. Three South Asian nations Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal are characterized as least developed country. Poverty is commonly spread within this region. According to the poverty data of World Bank, more than 40% of the population in the region lived on less than the International Poverty Line of

$1.25 per day in 2005, compared to 50% of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa.There are 421 million poor people by Multidimensional Poverty Index standards in eight Indian states alone - Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal - while there are 410 million in the 26 poorest African countries combined. Sri Lanka has the highest GDP per capita in the region, while Nepal has the lowest. India is the largest economy in the region (US$ 1.54 trillion) and makes up almost 82% of the South Asian economy; it is the world's 10th largest in nominal terms and 4th largest by purchasing power adjusted exchange rates. Pakistan has the next largest economy and the 5th highest GDP per capita in the region, followed by Bangladesh. If Iran is counted, it will become the second largest in terms of region and the economy . According to a World Bank report in 2007, South Asia is the least integrated region in the world; trade between South Asian states is only 2% of the region's combined GDP, compared to 20% in East Asia.

These countries have several common characteristics in their economic performance and follow similar growth patterns. Sustained economic growth Extreme population pressure Accelerating rate of change in social and economic structures Increasing share of international economic activity Growing affluence Large domestic markets Social and political tension Swift adoption of new technology and work practices High technology exports accounting for large portion of GDP growth Higher initial levels and growth rates of human capital

US Economy
The United States of America (US or USA) is the largest and most important economy in the world. In 2010, The US economy was responsible for 20.218 percent of the worlds total GDP (PPP) or US$ 14.624 trillion. Domestically, the US economys frailties were cruelly exposed during the 2008 financial crisis. The US economy has found it harder to recover from the 2008 financial crisis, believed to be the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, as compared to previous downturns. Consumer confidence within the country is at all time low, perpetuating the slow economic growth since 2008. On the international front, it is increasingly likely that the US will lose its status as the worlds largest economy. According to the latest IMF forecast done in April 2011, China is expected to overtake the US by 2016. This has come as a major surprise for the global community previous forecasts had predicted China overtaking the US by 2035 at best. Type of the US economy: i) Capitalism ii) free enterprise Decline in farming decline in manufacturing growth in services growth in trade

Australian Economy
Australia has a market economy with high GDP per capita and low rate of poverty. The Australian dollar is the currency for the nation, including Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and Norfolk Island, as well as the independent Pacific Island states of Kiribati, Nauru, and Tuvalu. After the 2006 merger of the Australian Stock Exchange and the Sydney Futures Exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange is now the ninth largest in the world.
Major economic reforms starting in the 1980s First reform: Labor Partys floating of AUD in 1983 Free-trade agreements and reduction of trade barriers Financial sector deregulation, including 1992 access for foreign

bank branches
Rationalization and reduction of trade unions Restructuring of centralized system of industrial relations and

labor bargaining
Better integration of individual state economies into federal

system
Improvement and standardization of national infrastructure Privatization (e.g., Australian Wheat Board) Current concerns Large current account deficit Absence of export-oriented manufacturing industry Real estate bubble High levels of net foreign debt owed by the private sector Pressure on environment

Asia Pacific
The economy of Asia comprises more than 4 billion people (60% of the world population) living in 46 different states. Six further states lie partly in Asia, but are considered to belong to another region economically and politically. Asia is the world's fastest growing economic region. China is the largest economy in Asia and the second largest economy in the world. As in all world regions, the wealth of Asia differs widely between, and within, states. This is due to its vast size, meaning a huge range of differing cultures, environments, historical ties and government systems. The largest economies in Asia in terms of both nominal and PPP gross domestic product (GDP) are the People's Republic of China, Japan, India, South Korea and Indonesia.

Economic sectors
Primary sector Asia is by a considerable margin the largest continent in the world, and is rich in natural resources. The vast expanse of the former Soviet Union, particularly that of Russia, contains a huge variety of metals, such as gold, iron, lead, titanium, uranium, and zinc. These metals are mined, but inefficiently due to continued use of poorly maintained, obsolete machinery left over from the communist era. Nevertheless, profits are high due to a commodity price boom in 2003/2004 caused largely by increased demand in China. Oil is Southwest Asia's most important natural resource. Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Kuwait are rich in oil reserves and have benefited from recent oil price escalations. Asia is home to some four billion people, and thus has a well established tradition in agriculture. High productivity in agriculture, especially of rice, allows high population density of many countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, southern China, Cambodia, India, and Vietnam. Agriculture constitutes a high portion of land usage in warm and humid areas of Asia. Many hillsides are farmed in a terrace method to boost arable land. The main agricultural products in Asia include rice and wheat. Opium is one of major cash crops in Central and Southeast Asia, particularly in Afghanistan, though its production is prohibited everywhere. Forestry is extensive throughout Asia except Southwest and Central Asia, with many of the items of furniture sold in the developed nations made out of Asian timber. Fishing is a major source of food, particularly in Japan. Secondary sector The manufacturing sector in Asia has traditionally been strongest in the East region - particularly in China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and

Singapore. The industry varies from manufacturing cheap low value goods such as toys to high-tech added value goods such as computers, CD players, Games consoles, mobile phones and cars. Major Asian manufacturing companies are mostly based in either South Korea or Japan. They include Samsung, Hyundai, LG, and Kia from South Korea, and Sony, Toyota, Toshiba, and Honda from Japan. Many developednation firms from Europe, North America, Japan and South Korea have significant operations in the developing Asia to take advantage of the abundant supply of cheap labor. One of the major employers in manufacturing in Asia is the textile industry. Much of the world's supply of clothing and footwear now originates in Southeast Asia and South Asia, particularly in Vietnam, China, India, Thailand, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Indonesia.

Tertiary sector Asia has seven important financial centers, located in Dubai, Bangalore, Mumbai, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo. India has been one of the greatest beneficiaries of the economic boom. The country has emerged as one of the world's largest exporters of software and other information technology related services. World class Indian software giants such as Infosys, Hindustan Computers Limited, Wipro, Mahindra Satyam and Tata Consultancy Services have emerged as the world's most sought after service providers. Call centers are also becoming major employers in India and Philippines due to the availability of many well educated English speakers. Here again India holds close to 60% of the trade share. The rise of the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry has seen the rise of India

and China as the other financial centers. Experts believe that the current center of financial activity is moving toward "Chindia" - a name used for jointly referring to China and India - with Shanghai and Mumbai, Bangalore becoming major financial hubs in their own right. Other growing technological and financial hubs include Dhaka (Bangladesh), Chennai (India), New Delhi (India), Seoul (South Korea), Pune (India), Hyderabad (India), Shenzhen (China), Kolkata (India), Jakarta

(Indonesia), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Karachi (Pakistan), Lahore (Pakistan), Metro Manila (Philippines), Cebu (Philippines) and Bangkok (Thailand)

European Economy
The economy of Europe comprises more than 731 million people in 48 different states. Europe was the first continent to industrialize led by the United Kingdom in the 18th century and as a result, it has become the richest continent in the world today and the nominal GDP in 2010 is $19.920 trillion (32.4% of the World). Europe's largest national economy is that of Germany, which ranks fourth globally in nominal GDP, and fifth in purchasing power parity (PPP) GDP; followed by France, ranking fifth globally in nominal GDP, followed by the United Kingdom, ranking sixth globally in nominal GDP, followed by Italy, which ranks seventh globally in nominal GDP, then by Russia ranking tenth globally in nominal GDP.

Economic sectors Agriculture and fishing Europe's agricultural sector is in general highly developed. The process of improving Central Europe's agriculture is ongoing and is helped by the accession of Central European states to the EU. The agricultural sector in Europe is helped by the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which provides farmers with a minimal price for their products and subsidizes their exports, which increases competitiveness for their products. This policy is highly controversial as it hampers free trade worldwide (protectionism sparks protectionism from other countries and trade blocs: the concept of trade wars) and is violating the concept of fair trade. This means because of the protectionist nature of the CAP, agricultural products from developing countries are rendered incompetitive in both Europe (an important export market for developing countries) and on their home markets (as European agricultural products are dumped on developing countries' markets with help from European agricultural subsidies). This controversy surrounds every system of agricultural subsidies (the United States' policy of subsidizing farmers is also controversial). The CAP is also controversial because 40% of the EU's budget is spent on it, and because of the overproduction caused by it. The Common Fisheries Policy is surrounded by an extensive system of rules (mainly consisting of quotas) to protect the environment from overfishing. Despite these rules, the cod is becoming increasingly rare in the North Sea resulting in drastic shortages of Fish & Chips in countries such as Canada and the United Kingdom. Strict fishing rules are the main reason for Norway and Iceland to stay out of the European Union (and out of the Common Fisheries Policy). Price guarantees and subsidizations of

fishermen are implemented in the same way as agricultural subsidies are. Bluefin tuna is also a problem. Global stocks of the species are overfished with extinction in the wild a possibility in the near future. This also has the negative effect of threatening their traditional, natural predators. Manufacturing Europe has a thriving manufacturing sector, with a large part of the world's industrial production taking place in Europe. Most of the continent's industries are concentrated in Southern England, the Benelux, Germany, north-eastern France, Switzerland, and northern Italy). However, because of the higher wage level and hence production costs, Europe is suffering from deindustrialization and offshoring in the labour intensive manufacturing sectors. This means that manufacturing has become less important and that jobs are moved to cheaper regions (mainly China and Central and Eastern Europe). Central Europe (Berlin, Saxony, the Czech Republic and Little Poland) was largely industrialised by 1850 but Eastern Europe (European Russia) begun industrialisation between 18901900 and intensified it during the communist regime (as USSR) but it suffered from contraction in the 1990s when the inefficient heavy industry based manufacturing sector crippled after the collapse of communism and the introduction of the market economy. In the 21st century the manufacturing sector in Central and Eastern Europe picked up because of the accession of ten formerly Communist European states to the EU and resulting accession to the European Common Market. This caused firms within the European Union to move jobs from their manufacturing sector to Central European countries such

as Poland (see above), which sparked both Central and Eastern European industrial growth and employment. According to Fortune Global 500, 195 of the top 500 companies are headquartered in Europe.The main products in European industry are bicycles, rail, machinery, marine, aerospace equipment, food, chemical and pharmaceutical goods, journalism, software and electronics. Europe no longer makes many kinds of TVs and there are other gaps in the product lineup. Investing and banking Europe has a well-developed financial sector. Many European cities are financial centres with the City of London being the largest. The European financial sector is helped by the introduction of the euro as common currency. This has made it easier for European households and firms to invest in companies and deposit money on banks in other European countries. Exchange rate fluctuations are now non-existent in the Eurozone. The financial sector in Central and Eastern Europe is helped by economic growth in the region and the commitment of Central and Eastern European governments to achieve high standards. European banks are amongst the largest and most profitable in the world (BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, Societe Generale, Royal Bank of Scotland, Deutsche Bank, UBS, National Trust, HSBC, Grupo Santander, BBVA, HBOS, Unicredit).