UN raises global economic forecast to 5.4% growth in 2021

The United Nations has responded to the rebounding Chinese and U.S. economies by revising its global economic forecast upward to 5.4% for 2021

UNITED NATIONS -- The United Nations on Tuesday responded to the rebounding Chinese and U.S. economies by revising its global economic forecast upward to 5.4% growth for 2021, but it warned that surging COVID-19 cases and inadequate availability of vaccines in many countries threaten a broad-based recovery. In raising its projection from January of 4.7% growth, the U.N.’s mid-2021 World Economic Situation and Prospects report pointed to the rapid vaccine rollout in a few large economies led by the U.S. and China and an increase in global trade in merchandise and manufactured goods that has already reached its pre-pandemic level. But the U.N. cautioned that “this will unlikely be sufficient to lift the rest of the world’s economies,” and “the economic outlook for the countries in South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean remains fragile and uncertain.” Lead author Hamid Rashid, chief of the Global Economic Monitoring Branch in the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, told a news conference that “Europe’s outlook is not as bright as we expected” because of signs of second and third waves of COVID-19 infections.