The business sentiment of manufacturing firms on a global basis has maintained its improving trend, although it recently has deteriorated somewhat, and the world trade volume has continued to recover. In this situation, overseas economies have continued to grow firmly on the whole. In terms of the outlook, overseas economies are expected to continue growing firmly on the whole.
According to the October 2018 World Economic Outlook released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the global growth rate is projected to be 3.7 percent in both 2018 and 2019. Looking at developments by major region, the U.S. economy has been expanding. The European economy has continued to recover, although its growth pace has decelerated somewhat.