Latest Covid-19 wave to slow pace of global economic recovery, IMF chief says – The National

Latest Covid-19 wave to slow pace of global economic recovery, IMF chief says – The National

The latest surge of Covid-19 infections will slow the pace of the global economic recovery, the International Monetary Fund's Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said in her first media interview this year.

Last October, the Washington-based lender predicted global output of 4.9 per cent this year, but the world economy which was rebounding in the last quarter of 2021, will slow as a result of soaring Covid-19 cases that are crimping growth in the largest economies, Ms Georgieva said in an exclusive interview with The National. The estimate will be revised downward to reflect this, she said.

“We were hoping to have more momentum in the recovery in 2022, already in the last month of the previous year we have seen this momentum weakening, because the two big engines of growth of the world economy, the US and China, were slowing down, and then we got hit by Omicron”, Ms Georgieva explained.