International Monetary Fund’s (IMF’s) First Deputy Managing Director Geoffrey Okamoto stated that the global economic growth projection of 4.9 percent in 2022 would likely take a beating due to the new COVID-19 variant, Omicron.

“We project the global economic growth at 5.9 percent in 2021 and to decline to 4.9 percent next year. I think it is important to emphasize the possibility of a decline due to the Omicron variant,” Okamoto noted here on Friday.

In October 2021, the IMF released the global economic growth projection of 5.9 percent in 2021, 0.1 percent lower than the forecasted figure announced in July.

A decline in the 2021 projection was in line with the decrease in the gross domestic product (GDP) in the third quarter of 2021 due to the spread of positive cases of the Delta variant around the world, Okamoto explained.

On the other hand, the emergence of a new Omicron variant coupled with supply chain disruptions had suppressed economic activities that had started to recover in the fourth quarter of 2021, he remarked.

Okamoto later stated that this crisis will have a prolonged effect on the economy and vulnerable groups since the Omicron variant had created a sense of uncertainty about the COVID-19 situation.

Source: Antara News