World Bank cautious about recovery

Europe’s debt crisis is threatening the global economic recovery, which is “continuing to advance,” according to the World Bank’s latest Global Economic Prospects 2010. The World Bank projects global GDP to expand between 2.9 and 3.3% in 2010 and 2011, strengthening to between 3.2 and 3.5% in 2012, reversing the 2.1% decline in 2009. Developing economies are expected to grow by between 5.7 and 6.2% each year from 2010-2012. High-income countries, however, are projected to grow by between 2.1 and 2.3% in 2010 – not enough to undo the effects of the 3.3% contraction in 2009 - followed by between 1.9 and 2.4% growth in 2011. “The better performance of developing countries in today’s world of multipolar growth is reassuring,” said Justin Yifu Lin, the World Bank’s chief economist and senior vice president, development economics.