The world economy is expected to grow slightly by more than three percent in 2006, following a similar pace in 2005, a UN report said Tuesday.

World economic growth slowed noticeably in 2005 at a rate of 3. 2 from the strong expansion of four percent in 2004, and will expand at a moderate pace of 3.3 per cent in 2006, reported the World Economic Situation and Prospects 2006.

The slowdown largely reflects a maturing of the recent global economic recovery, the report explained, adding that natural disasters and terrorist incidents since the end of 2004, although fairly well absorbed, have nevertheless also taken a toll.

According to the report, the possibilities of new oil price surges, an outbreak of avian influenza into a human pandemic, or a crash in house prices in key economies pose a threat to a smooth winding down of economic growth.

But the greatest danger may lie in the systemic weakness entailed in huge and still-growing global finance imbalances, the report observed.

Source: Xinhua