#growth #stimulus #vaccines
Tuesday, the World Bank raised its global growth forecast to 5.6% for 2021, marking the strongest recovery from a recession since Y 1940 due to stimulus spending and faster growth in China but held back by “highly unequal” access to COVID-19 vaccines.
The latest Global Economic Prospects report showed a 1.5% increase from forecasts made in January, before the Biden administration took office and enacted a $1.9-T COVID-19 aid package.
Since then, vaccines have become much more widely distributed in the United States and some other wealthy countries, boosting their output, as forecasts lag for emerging market and low-income countries.
“This recovery is uneven and largely reflects sharp rebounds in some major economies — most notably the United States, owing to substantial fiscal support — amid highly unequal vaccine access,” the World Bank said in the report.
World Bank President David Malpass reiterated his calls for rich nations, including the United States, to free up excess vaccine doses to developing countries as quickly as possible.
Ayhan Kose, economist and director of the World Bank’s Prospects Group, said the latest forecasts assume that advanced economies will have their populations vaccinated by yr-end, and a number of major emerging market economies also will make significant vaccination progress. But vast numbers of people in developing and poor countries will still be waiting for vaccines into next yr.
“Right now we are predicting growth next year around 4.3%. That growth number can be around 5% if we see faster distribution of vaccines,” said Mr. Kose.
The World Bank’s 2021 US growth forecast was raised 3.3% from January to 6.8% in the latest report, its fastest pace since Y 1984, due to economic support that the bank described as “unprecedented in peacetime.”
Have a healthy day, Keep the Faith!
