UN drops forecast for global economic growth in 2022 to 3.1%

The mid-2022 forecast from the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs said the downgrade in growth prospects is broad-based, including the world's largest economies and the majority of other developed and developing countries.

The United Nations on Wednesday significantly lowered its forecast for global economic growth this year from 4% to 3.1%, saying the war in Ukraine has triggered increasing global food and commodity prices and exacerbated inflationary pressures, upending the fragile recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The mid-2022 forecast from the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs said the downgrade in growth prospects is broad-based, including the world's largest economies -- the United States, China and most significantly the European Union -- and the majority of other developed and developing countries.

The World Economic Situation and Prospects report also warned that the current forecast of 3.1% “faces significant downside risks from further intensification of the war in Ukraine and potential new waves of the pandemic.”

“This slowdown and the war in Ukraine -- triggering sharp increases in food and fertilizer prices -- will hit the developing countries particularly hard, exacerbating food insecurity and increasing poverty,” the report said.

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According to the U.N. forecast, global inflation is projected to increase to 6.7% in 2022, twice the average of 2.9% during 2010-2020, with sharp rises in food and energy prices.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said: “The war in Ukraine -- in all its dimensions -- is setting in motion a crisis that is also devastating global energy markets, disrupting financial systems and exacerbating extreme vulnerabilities for the developing world.”