UN DESA launches WESP 2025: projects 2.8% global growth, warns developing countries lag

Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Lee Drouin Hoa and senior UN DESA economists on Thursday released the World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) 2025, projecting global growth of about 2.8% in 2025 while warning that the recovery remains uneven and that many developing countries face severe fiscal and development constraints.

The report, presented by Lee Drouin Hoa, Shantanu Mukherjee (Director, Economic Analysis and Policy Division, UN DESA) and Hamid Rashid (Chief, Global Economic Monitoring Branch, UN DESA), said lower inflation, monetary easing and a rebound in international trade underpin a relatively stable outlook but that growth remains “well below the pre‑pandemic average of the 3.2% recorded over 2010 to 2019.” Lee Drouin Hoa said, “the world economy has largely avoided a broad based contraction despite the unprecedented shocks of the last few years and the most prolonged period of the monetary tightening in the history.”

The report’s headline forecast and why it matters

UN DESA projects global growth of around 2.8% in 2025, roughly matching 2024, with global inflation forecast to fall from an estimated 4% in 2024 to about 3.4% in 2025. Shantanu Mukherjee summarized the situation as “a period of stable subpar growth.” He added that easing by central banks has already contributed to modest turnarounds in investment and cross‑border financing and a sharp…