The world economy is at a precarious moment. Heightened trade tensions, along with policy uncertainty, have significantly weakened the global economic outlook for 2025. Higher tariffs—resulting in a significant increase in the effective tariff rate in the United States of America—are likely to strain global supply chains, drive up production costs and delay critical investment decisions, while also contributing to financial market volatility. Global economic growth is now projected to slow to 2.4 per cent in 2025, down from 2.9 per cent in 2024, and 0.4 percentage points below the January forecast. The downward revisions in growth forecasts are broad-based, affecting both developed and…
Near-term global economic outlook cautiously optimistic as vulnerabilities remain
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The global economic outlook has improved since January, with major economies avoiding a severe downturn. The world economy is now projected to grow by 2.7 per cent in 2024, instead of 2.4 per cent forecasted earlier, on the back of better-than-expected performance of the United States economy and some improvement in the outlook for several large emerging economies. The modest gain in the growth momentum is partly offset by the downward revisions of…
Amid multiple global crises, risk of prolonged period of low growth looms large
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Prospects for a robust global economic recovery remain dim amid stubborn inflation, rising interest rates and heightened uncertainties. Instead, the world economy faces the risk of a prolonged period of low growth as the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ever-worsening impact of climate change and macroeconomic structural challenges remain unaddressed, according to the World Economic Situation and Prospects as of mid-2023 released today. According to the report, the world economy is now projected to grow by 2.3 per cent in…
World Economic Situation and Prospects as of mid-2023
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Global growth prospects have weakened significantly amid the war in Ukraine, rising energy, food and commodity prices, soaring inflation and tightening monetary policy stances by major central banks. The world economy is projected to grow by 3.1 per cent in 2022, marking a downward revision of 0.9 percentage points from our previous forecast released in January 2022. The baseline forecast faces significant downside risks from further intensification of the war in Ukraine and potential new waves of the pandemic.
Growth forecasts for the United States, European Union and China have been…
World Economic Situation and Prospects as of mid-2022
Economic recovery under threat amid surging COVID cases and lagging vaccination in poorer countries
Widening inequality casts a shadow over projected 5.4% global growth in 2021
While the global growth outlook has improved, led by robust rebound in China and the United States, surging COVID-19 infections and inadequate vaccination progress in many countries threaten a broad-based recovery of the world economy, says the latest United Nations forecast released today.
According to the World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) mid-2021 report, following a sharp contraction of 3.6 per cent in 2020, the global economy is now projected to expand by 5.4 per cent in 2021, reflecting an upward…
World Economic Situation and Prospects as of mid-2021
Against the backdrop of a raging and devastating pandemic, the world economy is projected to shrink by 3.2 per cent in 2020. Under the baseline scenario, GDP growth in developed countries will plunge to ?5.0 per cent in 2020, while output of developing countries will shrink by 0.7 per cent. The projected cumulative output losses during 2020 and 2021?nearly $8.5 trillion?will wipe out nearly all output gains of the previous four years. The pandemic has unleashed a health and economic crisis unprecedented in scope and magnitude. Lockdowns and the closing of national borders enforced by governments have paralyzed economic activities across the board, laying off millions of workers worldwide.…
World Economic Situation and Prospects as of mid-2020
Global growth outlook has weakened, amid unresolved trade tensions and elevated international policy uncertainty, according to the World Economic Situation and Prospects as of mid-2019. Across both developed and developing countries, growth projections for 2019 have been downgraded.?Following an expansion of 3.0 per cent in 2018, world gross product growth is now projected to moderate to 2.7 per cent in 2019 and 2.9 per cent in 2020, reflecting a downward revision from the forecasts released in January. The report identifies several downside risks that could trigger a sharper or more prolonged growth slowdown in the world economy, potentially inflicting significant damage on development…
World Economic Situation and Prospects as of mid-2019
Short-term prospects for the world economy have continued to improve, according to the World Economic Situation and Prospects as of mid-2018. World gross product is expected to expand by 3.2 per cent in both 2018 and 2019, marking an upward revision from forecasts released in December 2017. The recent improvement reflects a further uptick in the growth outlook for developed economies in 2018, on the strength of accelerating wage growth, broadly favourable investment conditions, and the short-term impact of a fiscal stimulus package in the United States. Higher levels of energy and metal prices are also supporting a gradual recovery in many commodity-exporting countries. However, the…
World Economic Situation and Prospects as of mid-2018
The mid-year update of the World Economic Situation and Prospects 2017 confirms the projections made in the World Economic Situation and Prospects 2017?in January 2017 of a modest recovery in global growth for 2017-2018. Helped by a moderate recovery in trade and investment, world gross product is expected to expand by 2.7% in 2017 and 2.9% in 2018. While this marks a notable acceleration compared to 2016, growth in many regions remains below the levels needed for rapid progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
Average growth of 4.7% in 2017 and 5.3% in 2018 is forecast for Least Developed Countries (LDCs), well below the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target of at…
World Economic Situation And Prospects As Of Mid-2017
Weak global growth continues to linger, posing a challenge to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. World gross product is projected to expand by just 2.4 per cent in 2016, the same weak rate as in 2015. This reflects significant downward revisions of growth for many countries in Africa, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and Latin America and the Caribbean from the forecasts in December 2015. Persistent weakness in aggregate demand in developed economies remains a drag on global growth, while low commodity prices, mounting fiscal and current-account imbalances and policy tightening have further dampened the growth prospects of many commodity-…
World Economic Situation and Prospects as of mid-2016
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