India to grow at 1.2% in CY20, global GDP to shrink by 3.2%, says UN

The UN slashed India’s projected growth rate to 1.2 per cent in 2020 and forecast that the global economy will contract sharply by 3.2 per cent as the Covid-19 pandemic paralyses the world, sharply restricting economic activities, increasing uncertainties and unleashing a recession unseen since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

The World Economic Situation and Prospects as of mid-2020 released on Wednesday by the UN said that global gross domestic product is forecast to shrink by 3.2 per cent in 2020, with only a gradual recovery of lost output projected for 2021. 

“Cumulatively, the world economy is expected to lose nearly $8.5 trillion in output in 2020 and 2021, nearly wiping out the cumulative output gains of the previous four years,” it said.

India’s economic growth is forecast to slow to 1.2 per cent in 2020, a further deterioration from the already slowed growth of 4.1 per cent in 2019. India, which grew at 6.8 per cent in fiscal year 2018, is forecast to recover slightly and clock a 5.5 per cent growth rate in 2021.

“The national lockdown in India, for example, is expected to depress economic growth to just 1.2 per cent, much lower than the already disappointing growth in 2019,” the report said.