Aug. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Confidence in the world economy surged to a 22-month high in August on signs the worst global recession since World War II is coming to an end, a Bloomberg survey of users on six continents showed.
The Bloomberg Professional Global Confidence Index jumped to 58.12 this month from 39.13 in July. It is the first time the reading exceeded 50, which means optimists outnumber pessimists. A measure of U.S. participants’ confidence in the world’s largest economy rose to 47.3 from 29.5, the survey showed.
“It’s clear the recession is over and some kind of recovery is underway,” said Nick Kounis, chief European economist at Fortis Bank Nederland Holding NV in Amsterdam, and a regular survey participant. “We have the biggest monetary and fiscal stimulus policy in history, globally, and we’re starting to see it work. Probably the next debate will be about how strong and sustainable the recovery is.”
The MSCI World Index has increased 12 percent in the past month and President Barack Obama said last week’s unexpected drop in the U.S. unemployment rate indicates the worst may be over. Nobel Prize-winner Paul Krugman said Aug. 10 that the world, now in a “rough stabilization” mode, has averted another Great Depression.
