Global economy projected to grow 1.9% in 2023: UN report

UNITED NATIONS - World output growth is projected to decelerate from an estimated 3.0 percent in 2022 to 1.9 percent in 2023, marking one of the lowest growth rates in recent decades, according to a UN report launched on Wednesday.

The UN World Economic Situation and Prospects 2023 report predicted global growth to moderately pick up to 2.7 percent in 2024, as some macroeconomic headwinds are expected to begin to subside next year.

Amid high inflation, aggressive monetary tightening and heightened uncertainties, the current downturn has slowed the pace of economic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, threatening several countries -- both developed and developing -- with the prospects of recession in 2023, the report said.

It said growth momentum significantly weakened in the United States, the European Union and other developed economies in 2022, adversely impacting the rest of the global economy through a number of channels.

In the United States, gross domestic product (GDP) is projected to expand by only 0.4 percent in 2023 after an estimated growth of 1.8 percent in 2022, the report said.

Growth in China is projected to moderately improve in 2023. With the government adjusting its COVID policy in late 2022 and easing monetary and fiscal policies, China's economic growth is forecast to accelerate to 4.8 percent in 2023, according to the report.