General review [April 1976]

There are now unmistakable signs of a sustained recovery in world trade and production. Both the imports and the exports of the leading industrialised countries in February were substantially above their level of twelve months previously. It may reasonably be expected that world trade as a whole will expand by about 7% in real terms this year Different countries are emerging from the recession at different rates: amongst the first to emerge clearly from the recession has been the United States. In the UK, the fall in total output which began in the fourth quarter of 1974 appears to have ended. Each of the three measures of GDP increased in the fourth quarter of 1975, the output measure by a little over 1/2%. During 1975 real living standards fell by around 4%, despite an increased share of wages and salaries in total money income during the year.