Nothing can match 2016 for shifts in policies

According to its latest World Economic Outlook, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts that the global economy will grow by 3.4% in 2017.

This is consistent with the average annual growth rate since 1980, so are we in ‘Goldilocks territory’, with growth that is neither too hot nor too cold?

Unfortunately for Ireland, most of this expected growth is concentrated in the emerging markets, with the group of advanced economies forecast to grow by only 1.8% next year, well below the 2.4% annual average seen over the past three and a half decades.