China and India have emerged as new engines of world economic growth, the United Nations said in a report published Friday.

"The main engine of growth, the US economy, may run out of steam before other countries or regions are able to take over that role," says the Trade and Development Report 2005, published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Instead, several populous Asian countries, in particular China and India, have emerged as new engines of economic growth, according to the report.

"Thanks to their vigorous expansion and their appetite for natural resources, many of their developing-country trade partners have -- for the first time in 20 years -- reaped windfall profits from rising commodity prices and from surging demand for intermediate products," it says.

The report cautions that the world economy is still expanding but there are serious risks of a setback.

According to the report, the world economy grew by almost 4 percent in 2004 -- the best performance since 2000. The global expansion has continued into 2005, but at a slower pace, and the growth rate is forecast to be around 3 percent for the year as a whole.

Most of this deceleration is attributable to a slowdown in developed-country economic performance, although some developing countries are also showing signs of losing momentum, says the report.

Source: Xinhua