The swift and massive shock of the coronavirus pandemic” means the global economy will contract by an estimated 5.2% this year, the most since World War 2, the World Bank predicts in its latest Global Economic Prospects on 8 June.
As for the Mena region, the World Bank is now forecasting a 4.2% contraction for 2020, a massive 6.6 percentage point swing from its forecast of 2.4% growth made at the start of the year. This also marks a sharp turn for the worse from the IMF’s latest forecasts, released in mid-April, which had Mena ‘growth’ at -3.3% and a global figure of -3.0% for 2020 (MEES, 17 April). (CONTINUED - 869 WORDS)
