The easing of trade tensions between the US and China is unlikely to lead to a rapid improvement in the global economy, the World Bank has said as it released a gloomy set of forecasts.
The development bank downgraded the growth outlook for most countries over the next three years compared with six months ago and said it expects only a minor pick-up in global fortunes this year following the “feeblest performance since the global financial crisis” in 2019.
A stronger recovery in 2020 is only likely if the recent trade rapprochement between presidents Donald Trump of the US and Xi Jinping of China leads to “a sustained reduction in policy uncertainty”, according to Ceyla Pazarbasioglu, the vice-president in change of equitable growth at the World Bank.