WORLD: Economic climate almost unchanged in 1Q 2015, says Ifo

The Ifo Index for the world economy edged upwards to 95.9 points after tumbling to 95.0 points the last quarter, the Munich-based institute said.

The improvement in the world economic climate is entirely due to slightly more positive economic expectations, while assessments of the current economic situation remained at the last quarter’s level.
Overall, the world economy showed little dynamism, but there are significant regional differences.
The Ifo World Economic Climate improved in North America and Europe. While the brightening was mainly due to assessments of the current economic situation in North America, the economic climate in Europe mainly improved thanks to more confident economic expectations.
In all other regions the economic climate continued to deteriorate. In Asia the indicator only fell slightly below its long-term average. The decline in the Near East was more marked, with WES experts in this region primarily expressing greater pessimism about developments over the next six months. The CIS states and Latin America continue to bring up the economic rear. The economic climate indicator in both regions continued to fall even further below their respective long-term averages.
Price increases in 2015 are expected to be lowest in Europe (0.8%) and highest in the CIS states (14.0%) and Latin America (10.8%).
On worldwide average, expectations that the US dollar will appreciate were slightly more widespread than in the last survey.