UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- World output growth is projected to decelerate from an estimated 3.0 percent in 2022 to 1.9 percent in 2023, marking one of the lowest growth rates in recent decades, according to a UN report launched on Wednesday.
The UN World Economic Situation and Prospects 2023 report predicted global growth to moderately pick up to 2.7 percent in 2024, as some macroeconomic headwinds are expected to begin to subside next year.
Amid high inflation, aggressive monetary tightening and heightened uncertainties, the current downturn has slowed the pace of economic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, threatening several countries -- both developed and developing -- with the prospects of recession in 2023, the report said.
It said growth momentum significantly weakened in the United States, the European Union and other developed economies in 2022, adversely impacting the rest of the global economy through a number of channels.
In the United States, gross domestic product (GDP) is projected to expand by only 0.4 percent in 2023 after an estimated growth of 1.8 percent in 2022, the report said.
Growth in China is projected to moderately improve in 2023. With the government adjusting its COVID policy in late 2022 and easing monetary and fiscal policies, China's economic growth is forecast to accelerate to 4.8 percent in 2023, according to the report.
It pointed out that tightening global financial conditions, coupled with a strong dollar, exacerbated fiscal and debt vulnerabilities in developing countries.
Most developing countries saw a slower job recovery in 2022 and continue to face considerable employment slack, the report said.
It warned that slower growth, coupled with elevated inflation and mounting debt vulnerabilities, threatens to further set back hard-won achievements in sustainable development, deepening the already negative effects of the current crises.
In 2022, the number of people facing acute food insecurity more than doubled compared to 2019, reaching almost 350 million. A prolonged period of economic weakness and slow income growth would not only hamper poverty eradication, but also constrain countries' ability to invest in the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals more broadly, the report stressed. ■
