Sombre global forecast

THE United Nations has issued a sombre global economic forecast for 2024, pointing to challenges from escalating conflicts, sluggish global trade, persistently high interest rates and increasing climate disasters.

In its flagship economic report, the UN projected that global economic growth would slow to 2.4 percent this year from an estimated 2.7pc in 2023, which exceeds expectations.

But both are still below the 3pc growth rate seen before the Covid19 pandemic began in 2020, it said.