Reuters :
The global GDP is expected to grow by 6.1 percent this year as economies around the world has adapted to the new realities after the Covid-19 pandemic vaccination rollout gathers momentum, according to Global Economic Outlook (GEO) of Fitch Ratings.
Earlier, GEO predicted a growth of 5.3 percent in December last year.
According to the report, published on Wednesday, “GDP outturns were stronger than expected in the fourth quarter of 2020 – particularly in Europe and emerging markets (EM) – and world GDP declined by 3.4 percent in 2020 as a whole, compared to our previous forecast of a 3.7 percent decline.”
“World GDP is now expected to be 2.5 percent higher in 2021 than in the pre-pandemic year of 2019,” it added.
UN body raises global economic growth forecast for 2021 to 4.7%. The Fitch forecasted US GDP growth at 6.2 percent in 2021 (revised up from 4.5 percent), China at 8.4 percent (from 8.0 percent) and the Eurozone at 4.7 percent (unchanged). Growth in EM excluding China is forecast at 6.0 percent (up from 5.0 percent).
The main driver of this global forecast revision is the much larger-than-expected fiscal stimulus package recently passed in the US. The $1.9 trillion price tag represents more than 2.5 percent of global GDP. Fiscal support had a powerful cushioning impact in 2020.
Further fiscal easing has also been announced in the UK, Italy, Japan, Germany and India, while the EU’s Next Generation EU recovery fund (NGEU) should provide a sizeable boost to Eurozone growth in 2022.
