A woman holds a Union flag umbrella in front of the Big Ben clock tower (R) and the Houses of Parliament in London October 4, 2014. REUTERS/Luke MacGregor

LONDON (Reuters) - London is to grow more quickly than New York over the next 15 years as the British capital benefits more from growth in the global economy, a report showed on Monday.

London’s economy will grow by an average of 2.9 percent a year between now and 2030, ahead of New York’s 2.6 percent, according to forecasts drawn up by Oxford-based consultancy Oxford Economics.

“A global outlook gives an unrivalled opportunity for enjoying growth from wherever it comes,” Oxford Economics Head of Global Cities Research Richard Holt said.

Holt said London was one of the world’s “most flexible cities” where other sectors grow off the back of successes in banking and finance. But New York will see the biggest increase in consumer spending globally.

The only other European city in the researchers’ top ten fastest growing cities list is Paris, set to grow by 1.7 percent a year in the same period.

Shanghai tops the list with an economy expanding at 5.2 percent a year, spearheading a gradual shift eastwards in economic power as China’s urban population and labour productivity growth race ahead of Europe’s.

By 2030 eight European cities will drop out of the world’s top 50 cities by gross domestic product (GDP) and nine new Chinese cities will join the group, taking the Chinese total to 17.

Smaller cities -- such as those in Africa and India -- are also set to grow faster than larger ones -- such as Tokyo -- between now and 2030, the research showed.