Economic experts are confident about the prospects for global economic growth, a study from the Ifo Institute for Economic Research said on Monday.
The Munich-based think tank's Global Economic Climate Indicator rose by 3.9 points to 17.1 points in the fourth quarter of 2017 (Q4), the highest level since 2011.
"The gradual recovery of the global economy appears to be gaining traction", Ifo president Clemens Fuest said in statement.
Fuest further predicted that the U.S. dollar's exchange rate against other currencies would continue to strengthen, while inflation rose across the world.
Based on the survey data from 1,171 economic experts in 120 countries, Ifo expects all global regions except the Middle East and Africa to experience faster growth. Economic sentiment in emerging markets such as Latin America is particularly upbeat.
Nevertheless, another Ifo study recently warned that the policies adopted by U.S. president Donald Trump could yet do serious harm to global growth. 73.9 percent of experts questioned in the earlier survey said that Trump was "negatively influencing the world economy".
Speaking to Xinhua on Monday, Cora Jungbluth, economics expert at the Bertelsmann Foundation, stressed that free trade and open markets were an "important source of global growth."
"Unilateral protectionist measures as promoted by U.S. president Donald Trump jeopardize free trade. They may provoke retaliation measures by trade partners and could thus lead to a vicious circle of protectionism. The result will be the reduction of growth and prosperity in all countries involved in the long run, including the one that initiated the measures in the first place," Jungbluth added.
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