Real GDP declined by 0.4% for the year as a whole, but the economic recovery gradually took hold over the second half of the year, aided by receding financial market tensions, improving economic confidence and a pick-up in foreign demand.
If oil prices continue to remain volatile, they would impart considerable uncertainties to growth prospects, particularly for oil-importing developing countries. Nonetheless, the reduction in oil prices from their peak levels has had an immediate impact on the inflation outlook. The headline inflation in advanced countries has decreased, and with this, the immediate prospect of monetary tightening has diminished.