UNITED NATIONS, Jan 25 (Reuters) –
Global economic growth is projected to slow to 1.9% this
year from an estimated 3% in 2022, according to a United Nations
report released on Wednesday that blamed the COVID-19 pandemic,
Russia’s war in Ukraine, high inflation and the climate crisis.
The World Economic Situation and Prospects report said this
would mark one of the lowest growth rates in recent decades.
“Global growth is forecast to moderately pick up to 2.7 per
cent in 2024, if, as expected, some macroeconomic headwinds
begin to subside next year,” it said. “The near-term economic
outlook remains highly uncertain, however, as myriad economic,
financial, geopolitical and environmental risks persist.”
The International Monetary Fund is due to release its
World Economic Outlook update later this month, but IMF head
Kristalina Georgieva
said last week
that she saw no “dramatic improvement” in its current 2023
global growth forecast of 2.7%, down from around 3.2% last year.
In October, the IMF put a 25% probability of global growth
falling below 2% next year – a phenomenon that has occurred only
five times since 1970.
The U.N. report by the world body’s Department of Economic
and Social Affairs said that weakened growth in the United
States, the European Union and other developed economies had
adversely affected the global economy.
It projected that U.S. gross domestic product would only
expand 0.4% in 2023, compared to an estimated growth of 1.8% in
last year. The EU was forecast to grow by 0.2% in 2023, down
from an estimated 3.3% in 2022.
The IMF in October forecast U.S. economic growth of 1% in
2023 and growth of 0.5% in the EU.
The report forecast economic growth in China would
accelerate to 4.8% this year after the government abandoned its
zero-COVID-19 policy and began easing monetary and fiscal
policies. This compares to an expected 3% expansion in 2022.
“But the reopening of the economy is expected to be bumpy.
Growth will likely remain well below the pre-pandemic rate of 6
to 6.5 per cent,” the report said.
The IMF is forecasting Chinese growth of 4.4% for 2023,
Georgieva said last week.
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols, editing by Deepa Babington)
