World Bank warns of slowest global growth since 1960s amid Trump tariffs, trade tensions
Global growth is projected to fall to 2.3 per cent due to trade tensions and policy uncertainty, with rising inflation risks requiring urgent action
The World Bank slashed its 2025 global growth forecast on Tuesday, citing trade tensions and resulting policy uncertainty, as US President Donald Trump’s wide-ranging tariffs strained ties and weighed on economic outlooks.
The bank lowered its projection for global GDP growth to 2.3 per cent in its latest economic prospects report, down from 2.7 per cent expected in January, the latest in a series of downgrades by international organizations.
“That’s the weakest performance in 17 years, outside outright global recessions,” said Indermit Gill, the World Bank Group’s chief economist.
Global growth and inflation prospects for this year and next have worsened because of “high levels of policy uncertainty and this growing fragmentation of trade relations,” he added.
“Without a swift course correction, the harm to living standards could be deep,” Gill warned.
By 2027, the World Bank expects global GDP growth to average 2.5 per cent in the 2020s, which would be the slowest rate in any decade since the 1960s.