The World Bank (WB) has predicted that Iran’s gross domestic product (GDP) will increase by 2.1 per cent in 2021 after experiencing a 5.3 per cent fall in the current year due to the negative impacts of the coronavirus outbreak, Mehr News Agency (MNA) reported.
“Iran’s GDP is expected to shrink again in 2020, by 5.3 per cent, partly reflecting the effects of the large-scale COVID-19 outbreak on domestic consumption and the services sectors (e.g., tourism),” WB said in its latest report on the global economy dubbed “Global Economic Prospects” released on Monday.
Underlining the downward trend of inflation among West Asian countries, World Bank stated that “Iran’s inflation has been falling on a year-by-year basis, although it remains elevated at about 20 per cent.”
The bank’s data revealed that 2020 is going to be the last year with a negative economic growth rate for Iran since in 2021 Iran’s economic growth rate is projected at 2.1 per cent.
Based on the WB report, the worst economic performance this year is going to be in the Eurozone. Economic growth in the region by the end of 2020 will fall by 9.1 per cent. The US economy will also grow negatively by 6.1 per cent.
The COVID-19 pandemic and the economic shutdown in advanced economies and other parts of the globe have disrupted billions of lives and are jeopardizing decades of development progress, the bank said.
Based on the report, the pandemic will shrink global GDP by 5.2 per cent in 2020, the worst since World War II and nearly three times as steep as the 2009 global recession.
Although the World Bank projects a rebound of 4.2 per cent in 2021, it warned that an “even worse scenario is possible” if the health crisis takes longer than expected to contain.- BERNAMA
