Developing countries are facing a “structural slowdown” likely to last for years and are ceding their role as the world’s growth engine to more mature economies such as the US, according to the World Bank.
The Washington-based bank yesterday lowered its forecast for global growth this year to 2.8 per cent, partly because the much-anticipated benefits of lower oil prices have been limited.
Seven years after the global financial crisis, high-income countries were resuming their role as drivers of international growth, the World Bank said in its twice-yearly report. By contrast, with the exception of India and a few others, the bank warned that developing economies such as China must confront an era of slower growth.