Updated estimates of the impact of COVID-19 on global poverty: Looking back at 2020 and the outlook for 2021

 

As the new year brings some hope for the fight against COVID-19, we are looking back and taking stock of the effect of the pandemic on poverty in 2020. In October 2020, using the June vintage of growth forecasts from the Global Economic Prospects, we estimated that between 88 and 115 million people around the globe would be pushed into extreme poverty in 2020. Using the January 2021 forecasts from GEP, we now expect the COVID-19-induced new poor in 2020 to rise to between 119 and 124 million. This range of estimates is in line with other estimates based on alternative recent growth forecasts.

Continue reading

Good Outcomes through Growth: Paths to Development Success: World Bank Group President David Malpass Remarks at the Peterson Institute for International Economics

It’s good to be back at the Peterson Institute. I’m eager to hear your views on the challenging subjects of growth and development. It’s a timely discussion, given the many immediate challenges facing the world, including Brexit, negative interest rates, trade frictions, and rising poverty rates in many developing countries. There’s a range of development issues to tackle, including barriers facing the private sector, full inclusion of women, and severe problems in health, education, the environment and infrastructure, to name several.

Continue reading

Global Economy to Edge Up to 3.1 percent in 2018 but Future Potential Growth a Concern

GEP2018a_Table1-1Current Slack in Global Economy Expected to Fade

WASHINGTON, January 9, 2018— The World Bank forecasts global economic growth to edge up to 3.1 percent in 2018 after a much stronger-than-expected 2017, as the recovery in investment, manufacturing, and trade continues, and as commodity-exporting developing economies benefit from firming commodity prices.

However, this is largely seen as a short-term upswing. Over the longer term, slowing potential growth—a measure of how fast an economy can expand when labor and capital are fully employed—puts at risk gains in improving living standards and reducing poverty around the world, the World Bank warns in its January 2018 Global Economic Prospects.

Continue reading