The International Outlook: Slower Growth Except for Germany

Demand and output in the industrialized countries slowed towards the end of 1989. Tighter monetary policy helped to contain inflation and to put the economies on a more sustainalbe growth track. Demand restriction was most pronounced in the United States, the United Kingdom and Sweden. Investment is the most powerful cyclical force in Europe, in view of the establishment of the EC internal market by 1992. The formation of a monetary and economic union between the two German states will boost aggregate demand in the Federal Republic. For the whole OECD area growth is forecast to decelerate from 3½percent in 1989 to 2½percent this year. The downward trend in unemployment has levelled off.