Online Seminar “Global Economic Prospects (GEP) June 2022 Edition”

Compounding the damage from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has magnified the slowdown in the global economy, which is entering what could become a protracted period of feeble growth and elevated inflation, according to the World Bank’s latest Global Economic Prospects report. This raises the risk of stagflation, with potentially harmful consequences for middle- and low-income economies alike.

Global growth is expected to slump from 5.7 percent in 2021 to 2.9 percent in 2022— significantly lower than 4.1 percent that was anticipated in January. It is expected to hover around that pace over 2023-24, as the war in Ukraine disrupts activity, investment, and trade in the near term, pent-up demand fades, and fiscal and monetary policy accommodation is withdrawn. As a result of the damage from the pandemic and the war, the level of per capita income in developing economies this year will be nearly 5 percent below its pre-pandemic trend.

At this online seminar, Ayhan Kose, Chief Economist and Director of the Prospects Group, Equitable Growth, Finance and Institutions and Jongrim Ha, Senior Economist, Prospects Group, World Bank, presented the main points of the report. Following the keynote presentation, John Beirne, Vice Chair of Research and Senior Research Fellow, Asian Development Bank Institute, shared comments on the report.