'Decade of wasted opportunity' could follow pandemic, World Bank warns
The global economy is dragging along at growth rates slower than previous decades
The global economy is dragging along at growth rates slower than previous decades, the World Bank said, as the post-pandemic rebound is weighed down by high interest rates, sluggish trade and geopolitical tensions that will hit developing countries hardest.
In the five years through 2024, global activity will post the weakest performance since the early 1990s, a “wretched milestone” that will leave one out of four developing economies poorer than before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Washington-based lender said Tuesday in its latest Global Economic Prospects report.
“Without a major course correction, the 2020s will go down as a decade of wasted opportunity,” Indermit Gill, the bank’s chief economist, said in a statement. Such weak near-term growth will leave many of the poorest countries “with paralyzing levels of debt and tenuous access to food for nearly one out of every three people.” (Financial Post)
