WASHINGTON: The World Bank on Tuesday downgraded its outlook for the global economy, and warned the situation could deteriorate if COVID-19 infections accelerate or the vaccine rollout is delayed.
The coronavirus pandemic also has worsened the risks surrounding the rising debt load in developing nations, and it will take a global effort to avoid a new crisis in those economies, the bank cautioned.
After shrinking 4.3 per cent in 2020, the world economy is projected to grow by 4.0 per cent this year, two-tenths lower than previously forecast, as more than half of countries were downgraded in the semi-annual Global Economic Prospects report.
China was a bright spot with a surprisingly fast recovery in 2020, but advanced countries which did better last year will fare worse in 2021, the bank said.
The report warns the outlook remains “highly uncertain’’, and GDP growth could be as low as 1.6 per cent this year if the downside risks materialise.
With millions driven into poverty by the coronavirus recession, countries will need to find a way to move beyond direct aid and reignite investment to stimulate growth, the Washington-based development lender urged.
Policymakers face “formidable challenges... as they try to ensure that this still fragile global recovery gains traction and sets a foundation for robust growth’’, World Bank President David Malpass said.
The expectation for a subdued recovery “assumes that vaccine rollout becomes widespread” and the economic reopening continues, Malpass told reporters.
But even if the pace of growth holds steady, global GDP in 2022 will be 4.4 per cent below pre-pandemic levels, the bank said.
And, further out, the “lasting damage to health, education and balance sheets” may lower the global economy’s potential output, the report said.
Focus on policies to boost investment will be needed to counter “the pandemic’s lasting scars’’, including through investment in green infrastructure which can boost growth while at the same time addressing climate change, the report said.
Malpass said that would include phasing out fossil fuel subsidies and providing incentives for green technologies.
The Chinese economy is expected to expand by nearly eight per cent this year, after two per cent growth in 2020, while US GDP is projected to gain 3.5 per cent — a half point lower than the June forecast.
Excluding China, developing nations as a group will see growth of just 3.4 per cent, the report said.
The inequality of the downturn and the recovery was “dramatic’’, and drove a “devastating rise in extreme poverty’’, Malpass said.
“People at the bottom of the income scale were hardest hit” by the recession, and “unfortunately will likely be the slowest to regain jobs, get health care, vaccinations and adjust to the post-Covid economy’’, he said.
The pandemic also exacerbated the debt risks of developing nations. — AFP
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