The global economy is set to grow at a faster pace this year than projected earlier due to an accelerated roll-out of vaccinations against the coronavirus and a better outlook for the U.S. on the back of a huge stimulus boost, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said Tuesday. The Paris-based think tank raised the global GDP growth forecast for this year to 5.6 percent from 4.2 percent seen in December in its latest Interim Economic Outlook report. The global economy is projected to expand 4.0 percent in 2022, which is faster than the 3.7 percent forecast in December. "Despite the improved global outlook, output and incomes in many countries will remain below the level expected prior to the pandemic at the end of 2022," the OECD warned. World output is expected to reach pre-pandemic levels by mid-2021, but the pace and duration of the recovery will depend on the race between vaccines and emerging variants of the virus, the OECD said.
"Speed is of the essence," OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría said. "If we don't get enough people vaccinated quickly enough to allow restrictions to be lifted, the recovery will be slower and we will undermine the benefits of fiscal stimulus," OECD Chief Economist Laurence Boone said.
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April 24, 2026 15:15 ET Economics news flow was relatively light this week even as the conflict in the Middle East continued, raising concerns for policymakers. In the U.S., spending data, initial jobless claims and pending home sales were the highlights. Business confidence in the biggest euro area economy was in focus in Europe. Inflation data from Japan gained attention in Asia.