World Bank slashes growth forecast to 2.9%

WASHINGTON:

The World Bank on Tuesday slashed its global growth forecast by nearly a third to 2.9% for 2022, warning that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has compounded the damage from the Covid-19 pandemic, and many countries now faced recession.

The war in Ukraine had magnified the slowdown in the global economy, which was now entering what could become “a protracted period of feeble growth and elevated inflation,” the World Bank said in its Global Economic Prospects report, warning that the outlook could still grow worse.

At a news conference, World Bank President David Malpass said global growth could fall to 2.1% in 2022 and 1.5% in 2023, driving per capita growth close to zero, if downside risks materialised.

Global growth was being hammered by the war, fresh Covid lockdowns in China, supply chain disruptions and the rising risk of stagflation – a period of weak growth and high inflation last seen in the 1970s.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 8^th, 2022.

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