2nd LD: World Bank upgrades global economic growth for 2018 to 3.1 percent
Xinhua,January 10, 2018 Adjust font size:
WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- World Bank on Tuesday raised its forecast for global economic growth in 2018 to 3.1 percent, saying that a broad-based recovery was underway across the world.
The forecast was 0.2 percentage point higher than its projections in June last year, said the Washington-based lender in its flagship Global Economic Prospects report.
"2018 is on track to be the first year since the financial crisis that the global economy will be operating at or near full capacity," said the lender.
It estimated that the global growth reached 3 percent in 2017, the strongest pace since 2011 and a notable recovery from a post-crisis low of 2.4 percent in 2016.
Growth increased in more than half of the world's economies in 2017, highlighting the broad-based nature of the recovery, said the lender.
It expected the global growth to slow to 3 percent in 2019 from 3.1 percent in 2018 and further down to 2.9 percent in 2020.
Despite the optimistic forecast, the World Bank warned that risks to the outlook remain tilted to the downside, which includes an abrupt tightening of global financing conditions, escalating trade restrictions and rising geopolitical tensions.
In the report, the lender also warned of the slowing potential growth over the longer term, which was seen in economies that account for more than 65 percent of global GDP.
The slowing productivity growth, weak investment and shrinking share of labor force are all contributing to the slowdown of potential growth, said the bank.
"The broad-based recovery in global growth is encouraging, but this is no time for complacency," said Jim Yong Kim, president of the World Bank, in a statement on Tuesday.
"This is a great opportunity to invest in human and physical capital. If policy makers around the world focus on these key investments, they can increase their countries' productivity, boost workforce participation, and move closer to the goals of ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity," said Kim. Enditem