The World Bank raised its expectations for the growth of the UAE economy for the current and next years from a contraction of 7.1 percent in last January's report to a contraction of no more than 4.5% this year, and adjusted its expectations within the report of global economic growth prospects by raising the rate of growth in the next year from a contraction expected to reach its rate to 1.6% to positive growth of about 1.4 percent. The World Bank estimated the economic growth of the UAE last year at about 1.7 percent.
According to the report, the Corona pandemic is plunging the world economy into the worst recession since the World War II, with a contraction expected to reach 5.2 percent this year. Indicating that the largest group of economies since 1870 will see declines in average per capita GDP. The bank expected advanced economies to contract by about 7% this year. As for emerging markets and developing countries, the World Bank expected it to witness this year a contraction of about 2.5%, which is the first contraction as a group in at least 60 years. It is expected that the per capita income will decrease by 3.6%, causing millions of people to fall into extreme poverty.
The bank suggested that the economies of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries to shrink by an average of 4.1% this year, with lower oil prices and pandemic consequences.
Source (Al-Khaleej Newspaper-UAE, Edited)
