The UN lowers its forecast for economic growth to 3.1 percent.
The United Nations has slashed its forecast for global economic growth this year from 4 percent to 3.1 percent, saying the war in Ukraine has sparked global food and commodity prices and exacerbated inflationary pressures by reversing inflationary pressures, reversing the fragile recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The mid-2022 forecast by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs said that the decline in economic growth prospects is broad-based, including the world’s largest economies as well as most other developed countries and developing ones.
The World Economic Situation and Perspectives report also warned that the current 3.1 percent forecast “faces significant negative risks from the further intensification of the war in Ukraine and the possibility of new waves of pandemics.”
“This economic slowdown and the war in Ukraine, which have caused significant increases in food and fertilizer prices, will hit developing countries in particular, exacerbating food insecurity and increasing poverty,” the report said.
According to the UN forecast, world inflation is projected to increase to 6.7 percent by 2022, double the average of 2.9 percent over the period 2010-2020, with a sharp rise in food and energy prices.
As a group, the UN said developing economies are projected to grow by 4.1 percent this year from 6.7 percent in 2021.