WORLD ECONOMIC OUTLOOK : ESSAY

 

Washington : The global economy will expand by 6% this year, but disparities between nations are widening as advanced economies accelerate while developing countries fall behind, the International Monetary Fund [IMF] said Tuesday.

While the forecast for global growth is unchanged from the previous estimate in April, the United States is projected to see faster 7% growth thanks to massive government spending and widespread Covid-19 vaccinations, while the IMF slashed the forecast for India, which is facing a resurgence of infections.

''Vaccine access has emerged as the principal fault line along which the global recovery splits into two blocks,'' the IMF said in its updated World Economic Outlook, warning of the danger to the economy if new virus variants are allowed to take hold.

The recovery ''is not assured even in countries where infections are currently very low so long as the virus circulates elsewhere,'' the report said.

And while the recent inflation spike is the result of the unprecedented and uneven turnaround from the pandemic and should prove temporary, the IMF raised the possibility that price increases could become ''persistent.''

The Washington-based crisis lender once again stressed that ''the immediate priority is to deploy vaccines equitably worldwide.''

Advanced nations have vaccinated nearly 40% of the population, compared to barely 10% in emerging markets and even fewer in low-income countries, the report said.

''The emergence of highly infectious virus variants could derail the recovery and wipe out $4.5 trillion cumulatively from Global GDP by 2025,'' IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath warned in a blog post.

More than half of that lost wealth would come from rich nations in the event new variants of the coronavirus spread unchecked.

And this is not just a ''tail risk'' that is highly unlikely. '' This is a realistic downside risk,'' said Petya Koeva Brooks, deputy director of the IMF Research Department.

Although some emerging market nations like Brazil and Mexico are poised to show stronger growth this year, developing nations as a group are lagging and struggling to return to their pre-pandemic levels.

''I would say we're more worried than we were back in April, Koeva Brooks told AFP. The IMF is pushing for a $50 billion plan that offers a ''feasible cost to end the pandemic'' by distributing vaccines and addressing immediate needs in lower income countries. Rising prices are another factor weighing on the global recovery, and pose a challenge to policymakers.

''The unprecedented convulsions in the global economy last year continue to trigger aftershocks,'' the IMF said, pointing to a shortage of computer chips and a lack of shipping containers where they are needed, which has delayed delivery of materials. [AFP]