Global Economy on Track for Strong but Uneven Growth as COVID-19 Still Weighs

The global economy is expected to expand 5.6% in 2021, the fastest post-recession pace in 80 years, largely on strong rebounds from a few major economies, the World Bank says in its June 2021 Global Economic Prospects.

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President Update

Productive discussions in Helsinki, Moscow, and London, the Global Economic Prospects Report, and action on vaccines

World Bank Group President David Malpass summarizes his recent activities, and a preview of a few events yet to come.

Pandemic Response

A New Commitment for Vaccine Equity and Defeating the Pandemic

It’s critical that countries with excess COVID-19 vaccine supplies immediately release and match doses to countries with deployment plans. Ending the pandemic is a solvable problem that requires global action – now, said World Bank Group President David Malpass in a new Op-Ed.

Pandemic Response

Strengthening Healthcare Capacity in Tajikistan and Protecting the Poorest During the Pandemic

Tajikistan was among the first countries to receive World Bank support to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. A $11.3 million grant helped strengthen healthcare capacity, provide emergency cash assistance, and finance awareness campaigns on how prevent the spread of the virus.

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Forecast revisions to global growth in 2021, by vaccination progress

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Global growth in 2021 is projected to be more robust than previously envisioned. Rapid vaccination progress has contributed to forecast upgrades in many countries; however, this is concentrated primarily in advanced economies. For many EMDEs, renewed COVID-19 surges and limited vaccination have contributed to downward revisions to growth. Read More.

The global COVID-19 vaccination campaign will be the largest in history. The delivery of COVID-19 vaccines presents challenges unprecedented in scale, speed and specificities, especially in low- and middle-income countries. In November 2020, anticipating the availability of safe and effective vaccines for COVID-19, the World Bank together with WHO, UNICEF, the Global Fund, and Gavi rolled out readiness assessments in more than 100 low and middle-income countries. Read More

Data flows not only support trade in goods, making production and distribution more effective and less costly, but such flows are in fact the vehicle for trading digital services across borders. As trade in global digital services has increased dramatically in recent years, so have global data flows. The World Development Report 2021, Data for Better Lives finds that a combination of well-defined domestic personal data protection measures with relative ease of cross-border movements appears to offer the most favorable environment for international trade in data-enabled services.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, 27 economies in all regions and income groups enacted reforms to remove obstacles to women’s economic inclusion across all areas and increased good practices in legislation in 45 cases, according to the Women, Business and the Law 2021. The greatest number of reforms introduced or amended laws affecting pay and parenthood. Read more.

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Neelaab, a 9-year-old second-grader in Afghanistan, a beneficiary of the Education Quality Improvement Program. Photo: © Abbas Farzami/ World Bank

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Global Economic Prospects 2021

Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2020: Reversals of Fortune

World Bank Annual Report 2020

Women, Business and the Law 2021

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