ARCHIVED - IMF lowers economic growth forecast for Spain in 2021
The decrease is offset by an upgrade in GDP predictions for 2022
As Spain continues to suffer the effects of the fifth wave of coronavirus infection the IMF has revised its economic growth forecast, postponing the recovery slightly and weighting it more towards 2022 than to 2021.
The revised forecast is now that GDP will grow by 6.2 per cent this year, two tenths of a point less than had previously been expected, while the forecast for 2022 is raised by 1.1 points to 5.8 per cent in the World Economic Outlook document published on Tuesday. Globally, the figures remain largely unchanged, reflecting quicker recoveries in those countries where vaccination is progressing faster and a growing disparity between the first and third worlds.
In the latest document the economy of Spain is expected to grow at a slower rate this year than those of the USA (7 per cent), the UK and Canada (both 6.3 per cent), but faster than those of European neighbours such as Germany (3.6 per cent), France (5.8 per cent) and Italy (4.9 per cent).
In terms of combating the pandemic on a global scale, the IMF warns that another 1,000 million vaccine doses are needed in order to achieve the immunization of 60 per cent of the world’s population during the next year and urges more advanced economies to contribute by donating vaccines whenever possible.
Spain this week donated 750,000 doses of AstraZeneca to Latin America.
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