Global economy to grow 5.3% in ’21: UN

According to the United Nations Conference on Trade & Development’s (UNCTAD) Trade and Development report 2021, the global economy will show robust recovery in 2021, witnessing a 5.3% growth. However, this global rebound is expected to be greatly uneven across different regions, sectors and income intervals. For South Asia, the report estimated a 5.8% growth in 2021, with a more vigorous recovery expected at the beginning of the year dampened by the rapid surge in the COVID-19 cases in Q2 2021.

In 2022, the growth for the region is expected to be 5.7%. The report states, “The pandemic response in developed countries has activated a resurgent state and suspended fiscal constraints, but international rules and practices lock developing countries into pre-pandemic responses and a semi-permanent state of economic stress.”

In responses of advanced economies to COVID-19 disruptions, they have rediscovered the power their purses, however, with a further thorough revision of multilateral rules and norms, inequality in the world will persist. The report states that globally there is a need for more effective multilateral coordination, as otherwise the recovery efforts of the advanced world will dampen the development possibilities for the South and accelerate inequality.

The report states, “An examination of policy actions in three key areas of resilience-building – reducing inequality, countering corporate power and reducing carbon emissions – suggests that advanced economies have taken welcome steps, but without the heft that more decisive steps and coordinated support would bring.”