Thanks, all.

Here's the passage:

Is the world economiy in good or bad shape? Judged by the pace of growth, it is in rude health. Depsite soaring oil prices, the IMF's latest World Economic Outlook reckons that global output will grow by 4.3% both this year and next, well above its trend rate.

I took "rude health" to mean ill-health, so the optimisim of the sentence following took me by surprise. At the time, I wondered if this wasn't a bit of cleverness meant to underscore the difference in American and extra-American perspectives, but I've since decided no such subtlety was intended.

BTW, is there a specific name for a phrase begining with "despite," "in spite of," or some such?