The International Monetary Fund (IMF) modestly lowered its global economic outlook on Tuesday, citing the “great vaccination divide,” supply bottlenecks, and inflation risks as reasons for the COVID-19 spike.

“The global recovery is continuing, but progress has slowed due to the epidemic,” IMF Chief Economist Gita Gopinath said during a virtual news conference held during the IMF and World Bank Group’s annual meetings.

The IMF forecasted worldwide growth of 5.9% in 2021 in its recently issued World Economic Outlook, down 0.1 percentage points from July’s prediction, while warning that the “small headline revision” for the global economy “masks considerable downgrades” for individual nations.

Gopinath said the outlook for low-income developing nations, in particular, has “darkened considerably” due to worsening pandemic dynamics, noting that overall risks to economic prospects have increased and policy trade-offs have become “more difficult.”

According to the report, low-income developing countries are on track to grow by 3.0% this year, down 0.9 percentage point from July’s prediction.

Gopinath said the “big vaccination difference” and substantial variations in policy support are the causes of a “dangerous divergence” in economic prospects among countries, which remains a major concern.

In a remote video interview with Xinhua on Tuesday, Petya Koeva Brooks, deputy director of the IMF’s Research Department, said, “We are really concerned (about the vaccine difference) and we are doing everything we can to make the case to be clear on the numbers, which are worrying.”

“Roughly 60% of the population in advanced economies and about a third in emerging markets are completely vaccinated, but the corresponding figure for low-income countries is less than 5% of the population,” Brooks added.

The IMF asked the international community to step up efforts to guarantee that every country has equal vaccine access, to eliminate vaccine reluctance where there is sufficient supply, and to improve everyone’s economic prospects.

Recent contributions in that regard by China, the Group of Seven developed nations, and other countries are “welcome,” according to the report, though donations should be increased to quickly fulfill the obligations.

“I believe there have been promises of surplus vaccines being shared and other similar things. I believe the logistics side of things has been slow “Brooks went on to say that it’s critical to see that these donation pledges are fulfilled.

The IMF official also urged countries to implement “complimentary” measures such as treatments, testing, and contact tracing, stressing that the global lender has asked policymakers to fund $20 billion in assistance for low-income countries.

Source: Xinhua News Agency