WASHINGTON (Reuters) – World Bank chief economist Endermit Gill said on Thursday he was concerned about “generalized stagflation,” a period of low growth and high inflation in the global economy, noting that the bank cut its forecast for three-quarters of all. Countries.
Gill, who took up his new position on September 1, told reporters at a news conference in Washington that the war in Ukraine and the spillover effects have dramatically changed expectations.
“Six months ago we were really worried about a slowing recovery and higher prices for some commodities, and I think now we are more worried about generalized stagflation, which brings back really bad memories of the mid-1970s and the lost decades,” he said.
Gill said that the current world is more polarized, an increasing number of middle-income countries are facing problems, and many countries are burdened with high debt.
The current situation, he said, brought the “glory days” of poverty reduction to a halt around the world from around 1990 to 2021. “Poverty reduction has gone down,” he said.
