PARIS (AP) — A leading international economic watchdog urged developed countries to put more effort into providing low- income countries with coronavirus vaccines in order to ensure the global recovery from the pandemic is more even.
In its latest assessment of the state of the global economy, the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Tuesday the global recovery from the shock of the pandemic is faster than it anticipated a year ago. Though the global economy has more than recouped the 3.4 percent output lost in 2020, it cautioned that the recovery is “uneven.”
The OECD, which monitors and advises its 38 member countries, modestly downgraded its growth forecast for this year to 5.7 percent from 5.8 percent previously. For 2022, the OECD raised its forecast to 4.5 percent from 4.4 percent.
Among developed countries, the OECD said the U.S. economy is set to grow this year by 0.9 percentage points less than it anticipated in May, though at a still-healthy 6 percent, while the 19-country eurozone is bouncing back by a full percentage point more than previously thought at 5.3 percent. It left its China growth unchanged at 8.5 percent.