January 06, 2021

Andrew Campbell 

On January 5 the World Bank released its January 2021 Global Economic Prospects and indicated global economy will expand by 4% in 2021. Meanwhile, the World Bank stated the world economy has contracted 4.3% in 2020. Due to the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown measures, 2020 was recorded as the fourth-worst global recession over the past 150 years.

As a key financial institution within the UN, the World Bank predicted vaccine deployment and investment reforms will play a major role in sustaining the economic recovery after the COVID-19 crisis. Thus, the World Bank has called for policymakers to act decisively. It also warned that constraints such as natural disasters and territory insecurities could damage the world's economic recovery even further.

According to January’s Global Economic Prospects, the World Bank pointed out the South African economy has fallen 7.8% in 2020 amid its coronavirus crisis. If South Africa could successfully distribute vaccines across the country, the World Bank predicted the South African economy would likely expand 3.3% in 2021. 

Photo:Webshot.