High inflation to stick this year, denting global growth – Reuters poll
“Persistently high inflation will haunt the world economy this year,” per the latest Reuters’ poll of economists published during early Friday.
The poll also states that the economists trimmed their global growth outlook on worries of slowing demand and the risk interest rates would rise faster than assumed so far.
Key quotes
In the latest quarterly Reuters surveys of over 500 economists taken throughout January, economists raised their 2022 inflation forecasts for most of the 46 economies covered.
While price pressures are still expected to ease in 2023, the inflation outlook is much stickier than three months ago.
At the same time, economists downgraded their global growth forecasts. After expanding 5.8% last year, the world economy is expected to slow to 4.3% growth in 2022, down from 4.5% predicted in October, in part because of higher interest rates and costs of living. Growth is seen slowing further to 3.6% and 3.2% in 2023 and 2024, respectively.
Nearly 40% of those who answered an additional question singled out inflation as the top risk to the global economy this year, with nearly 35% picking coronavirus variants, and 22% worried about central banks moving too quickly.
Also read: Federal Reserve rate cycle to begin in March, markets reverse on warning