Flagship economic report highlights why global cooperation is key
DOT Desk: The UN’s World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) report for 2024 projects a slowdown in global growth from an estimated 2.7% in 2023 to 2.4% in 2024,report Daily Sun.
The flagship forecast launched in New York on Thursday indicates that last year’s stronger-than-expected GDP growth coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic masked short-term risks and structural vulnerabilities in the world economy, reports UN News.
The sombre short-term outlook is based on persistently high interest rates, further escalation of conflicts, sluggish international trade, and increasing climate disasters, which all pose significant challenges to global growth. It points to a prolonged period of tighter credit conditions and higher borrowing costs, presenting strong headwinds for a world economy saddled with debt and in need of more investments to resuscitate growth, fight climate change and accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Escape the quagmire: Guterres UN chief António Guterres said, “2024 must be the year when we break out of this quagmire. By unlocking big, bold investments we can drive sustainable development and climate action and put the global economy on a stronger growth path for all. “We must build on the progress made in the past year towards an SDG Stimulus of at least $500 billion per year in affordable long-term financing for investments in sustainable development and climate action.”
So how do the numbers breakdown? We’ll begin our analysis with the scourge of rising prices that continues to bedevil economies large and small —
Inflation Global inflation is projected to decline further, from an estimated 5.7% in 2023 to 3.9% in 2024. But price pressures are still elevated in many countries and any further escalation of geopolitical conflict will add to that.
In about a quarter of all developing countries, annual inflation is projected to exceed 10% in 2024, the report highlights.