IMF raises global growth forecast, Japanese exports rise

The IMF released its latest World Economic Outlook on Wednesday. Reuters reports:

The global economy is recovering from recession more quickly than expected but rescue efforts have worsened public finances, and if not reined in, will lead to a "debt explosion," the IMF said on Wednesday...

Its World Economic Outlook nudged up forecasts for global growth to 4.2 percent this year. But it kept next year's unchanged and officials' stress was on the danger that steps to combat the financial crisis have left no room for maneuver.

Japan's export numbers for March provide further evidence of the impressive recovery so far. Bloomberg reports:

Japan’s exports grew for a fourth month in March, evidence that sustained gains in overseas demand are fueling the recovery as prices slump at home.

Shipments abroad advanced 43.5 percent from a year earlier, the Finance Ministry said today in Tokyo. The median estimate of 14 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a 45.4 percent gain...

Japan posted a trade surplus of 948.9 billion yen ($10.2 billion) in March, narrower than the median prediction for a 1.02 trillion yen gap, the Finance Ministry said. Imports rose 20.7 percent.

The improvement in overseas shipments last month was partly due to a favorable year-on-year comparison. In March 2009, shipments abroad tumbled 45.5 percent as global trade froze in the aftermath of the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in the previous September.

The value of shipments abroad totaled 6 trillion yen last month, lower than their peak of 7.7 trillion yen in March 2008. From a month earlier, March exports were unchanged on a seasonally adjusted basis, today’s report showed.