Introduction

More than four years ago, caught in the deepest and worst of all recessions in decades since the 1930s, the world economy was sliding to the edge of the abyss. The slide was arrested as nations joined hands, concerted their actions and mounted an unprecedented global rescue programme. The world economy is now struggling hard to come out of the morass of the economic decline and leave the crisis behind. The risks of a setback, however, still persisted; and despite the fledging signs of recovery and growth, many were concerned about both the continuing and new headwinds. They were uncertain about the sustainability of the recovery. Some were even fearful of a double-dip recession. In the USA a Gallup poll in April 2011 found that 29 per cent of those queried thought that the economy was in a “depression” and 26 per cent thought that the original recession had persisted into 2011. The eurozone is already projected to fall into a mild recession in 2012. (See Chapters 1 and 7 for more details).