UNITED NATIONS?Declaring that the world economy is “on the mend,” the United Nations on Thursday predicted global economic growth of 1.8 percent this year rising to about 3 percent next year?providing there are no major shocks.

“After a pervasive global slowdown in 2001, with roughly a dozen economies falling into recession, a recovery is unfolding,” according to the U.N. Global Economic Outlook, compiled from 250 economic experts from 60 countries. But the U.N. report said risks to the U.S.-led recovery abound: possible escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the linked possibility of higher oil prices, a resurgence of war in Afghanistan or elsewhere, the increasing global dependence on the U.S. economy and the potential for financial failure in Japan, the world’s second-largest economy.

According to the new 17-page outlook, the global economy grew by just 1.2 percent in 2001.