UN lowers global economic growth at 2.7% this year
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United Nations: The United Nations is forecasting that the global economy will grow by 2.7 per cent this year, slightly lower than last year’s estimate, citing the impact of higher US tariffs, economic uncertainties and geopolitical tensions.
UN economists predicted that growth would edge up to 2.9 per cent in 2027. That’s still well below the average 3.2 per cent growth between 2010 and 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic hurt economies around the globe. The estimate for 2025 is 2.8 per cent.
“A combination of economic, geopolitical and technological tensions is reshaping the global landscape,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Thursday in a statement, “generating new economic uncertainty and social vulnerabilities.”
But the UN economists said there was “unexpected resilience” to the sharp increases in US tariffs last year. This was supported by solid consumer spending and easing inflation, which helped sustain growth, but they cautioned that underlying weaknesses persist.
According to the UN’s World Economic Situation and Prospects report, growth in Europe, Japan and the United States is projected to hold broadly steady.
In the United States, the UN said growth declined from 2.8 per cent in 2024 to an estimated 1.9 per cent in 2025, “as strong consumer spending and AI-related investment were partly offset by weak residential and commercial construction.”
The UN projected a very small rise in US economic growth this year to 2 per cent, and it forecast that growth will edge up to 2.2 per cent in 2027.
Japan’s economy is forecast to grow by 0.9 per cent this year and by 1 per cent in 2027 — below the 1.2 per cent growth estimated for 2025, the UN said.
