The World Bank slightly raises its global growth outlook for 2023

World Bank Group President David Malpass on Monday revised its global growth outlook for 2023 to 2% from 1.7% in January, noting that a slowdown in growth would increase the debt burden of developing countries. .

Malpass added at a press conference in Washington that the upward revision was due to an improved outlook for China’s recovery from shutdowns due to the Covid-19 crisis, with growth this year at 5.1%, up from 4.3%. Bank’s January Global Economic Outlook Report.

Advanced economies, including the United States and Europe, are also doing slightly better than the World Bank expected in January, Malpass noted at the start of the week of the World Bank and Monetary Fund’s spring meetings. Turbulence in the banking sector and rising oil prices could again put downward pressure on growth prospects in the second half of 2023, the finance company boss warned.

Malpass insisted that technical meetings planned this week with Chinese officials would help “break the ice” on much-needed debt relief for poor countries.

Also read: IMF-World Bank: Issues on menu at annual meetings

China can score political points at a relatively low cost to its credit institutions, the World Bank president said. “From their company’s point of view, it’s not that big of a sum,” Malpass said. In a separate session, Malpass and IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva argued that the slow medium-term growth outlook — less than 3% this year and 3% for the next five years as estimated by the IMF — is a problem for developing countries.

Malpass said more growth is needed to create jobs and slow economic migration from poor countries. “Since these meetings are to talk about the immediate pressing priorities of price stability and financial stability, we will focus more on how the world can achieve growth. Higher,” Georgieva said.

The IMF will release its latest economic forecasts on Tuesday. The 2023 spring meetings of the World Bank Group (WBG) and the IMF, which began on Monday, will continue until April 16.

The conference brings together actors from diverse backgrounds, including public and private sector leaders, central bank governors, ministers, members of parliament, representatives of civil society organizations, and academic experts around key global issues including global economic conditions, poverty reduction, and economics. Development and aid performance.

With MAP