IMF Estimates Global GDP to Grow by 5.9% in 2021, 4.9% in 2022

While global economies are recovering, developed and developing economies face different and separate challenges.

Gita Gopinath, Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund. 

(Photo: Xinhua/Liu Jie/IANS))

In its World Economic Outlook, published on Tuesday, 12 October, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimated the global gross domestic product (GDP) to rise by 5.9 percent this year — 0.1 percentage point lower than what it had projected in its WEO report in July.

For 2022, the IMF has retained its global growth estimate of 4.9 percent, with respect to its July report.

The October WEO report wrote that while the pandemic has gone nowhere, the global economy continues to recover. However, "fault lines opened up by COVID-19 are looking more persistent".

Gita Gopinath, chief economist at the IMF, pointed out that while the WEO report "reflects more difficult near-term prospects for the advanced economy group, in part due to supply disruptions"; for developing countries in the low-income group, the downgrade is "largely due to worsening pandemic dynamics", CNBC reported.

Finally, on inflation, the report says that "risks are skewed to the upside" and that the uncertainty that surrounds inflation primarily stems from the problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and disrupting supply chains.

The IMF retained estimates for India's growth rate at 9.5 percent for 2021, and at 8.5 percent for 2022, according to NDTV.

(With inputs from International Monetary Fund, CNBC and NDTV.)