European and Japanese authorities have limited scope to respond, with daunting longer-run fiscal challenges and policy rates already set below zero. In China, stimulus measures should support growth in the near term, but may also slow China’s necessary transition away from its export- and investment-led business model. Emerging market nations such as Brazil, Russia and Venezuela face challenging conditions.
Moreover, both the IMF and the ECB staff have recently upped their growth expectations for the 1 1/6  BIS central bankers' speeches  euro area.1 At the same time, the healthy upswing of the German economy is continuing: 2017 will be the fourth consecutive year of GDPgrowth outpacing potential output. Growth has gained further momentum and the upswing has become more broadly based.