Update: World Bank projects global economy to shrink by 5.2 pct in 2020

WASHINGTON. KAZINFORM The global economy is on track to shrink by 5.2 percent this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the deepest recession since the Second World War, the World Bank Group said in its latest Global Economic Prospects released Monday.

Economic activity in advanced economies is anticipated to contract 7 percent in 2020 as domestic demand and supply, trade, and finance have been severely disrupted, the report said. The U.S. economy is projected to shrink by 6.1 percent this year, while Euro Area could see a 9.1-percent contraction, Xinhua reports.

Emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs), meanwhile, are expected to contract by 2.5 percent this year, «their first contraction as a group in at least sixty years,» according to the report. The economic activity in Latin America and the Caribbean, in particular, could plunge by 7.2 percent in 2020.

Growth in East Asia and Pacific is projected to fall to 0.5 percent in 2020, the only region that could see growth this year, the report said. The Chinese economy is expected to grow by 1 percent this year.

The outlook for global economy is «highly uncertain and downside risks are predominant,» including the possibility of a more protracted pandemic, financial upheaval, and retreat from global trade and supply linkages, the report noted.