The world economy will grow 5.6% this year, up from 4% in January, but growth will be uneven, with the United States and China in full recovery and weaker expansion in emerging markets, the World Bank said.
“While we welcome signs of global recovery, the pandemic continues to impose poverty and inequality on people in developing countries around the world,” World Bank (WB) President David Malpass said as he presented the new semi-annual report this Tuesday with the economic outlook.
The WB has improved forecasts for almost all regions and countries except for the lowest income countries. Ninety percent of advanced economies are expected to regain by 2022 the per capita income they had before the pandemic, but only a third of emerging markets will be able to do so next year, which is largely due to unequal access to covid-19 vaccines, the WB warned.
The US economy will expand by 6.8% this year after contracting by 3.5% last year, China is expected to grow by 8.5% after a slowdown in growth to 2.3% in 2020, and the Eurozone is expected to grow by 4.2%, compared to a retreat of 6.6% last year.
In Latin America, the WB forecasts growth of 5.2% in 2021, up from the 3.2% forecast six months ago, but the WB points out that this will depend on “moderate progress in vaccination, the easing of restrictive measures, and a rise in commodity prices,” among other factors.
