The lower growth rate resulted from subdued economic activity in both advanced and emerging market economies, while low commodity prices continued to weigh down on economic performance in commodity exporting countries. International oil prices, however, recovered during 2016, partly in response to the agreement by major producers to reduce production; therefore, potentially generating upward pressure on inflation.
Following a generalised 4  decrease in the previous two years, global food prices also increased in 2016. Due to these factors, global inflation increased slightly from 2.8 percent in 2015 to 2.9 percent in 2016, but much lower than the forecast of 3.4 percent at the beginning of the year.