World economic situation and Prospects 2007

World Economic Situation and Prospects is a joint product of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the five United Nations regional commissions. It provides an overview of recent global economic performance and short-term prospects for the world economy and of some key global economic policy and development issues. One of its purposes is to serve as a point of reference for discussions on economic, social and related issues taking place in various United Nations entities during the year. According to this year's report, the world economy is expected to moderate in 2007 after three years of historically high growth. The cooling of the US housing boom, a major factor in the global slowdown, is expected to slow the growth of the US economy, and the economic recovery in Japan and Europe is not strong enough to replace the US as the engine for growth of the world economy. However, the strength of US corporate finances leads the report to conclude that "the current situation need not degenerate into a recession