The Bank of Italy has published its Annual Report for the year ended 2002. In the first half of 2002 world economic activity accelerated, sustained in the leading industrial countries by the expansive stance of monetary and budgetary policy, the Annual Report said. The US economic recovery, already under way at the end of 2001 thanks to the prompt action of the Federal Reserve and the stimulus provided by public demand and tax reductions, helped the recovery in world trade, which mainly