The global economy continues to recover in Q3 2021 following the deep economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The growth accelerated as a result of the easing of virus- containment restrictions in most countries. According to the IMF forecast (October 2021), global GDP will grow 5.9% year over year (y/y), which is a downward adjustment from the previous estimate of 6% (July 2021). The adjustment reflects a downward revision of growth projections for advanced economies and low-income developing economies. The respective drivers are supply disruptions and the slower than anticipated mass vaccination in developing economies. While the majority of the population (58%) in advanced economies is fully vaccinated, the rest of the world is lagging behind with only 36% of the population in emerging market economies and less than 5% of the population in low-income developing countries being fully vaccinated (for comparison, in Georgia about 28.9% of the population is fully vaccinated). These factors drove down the annual growth forecasts for the low-income developing economies by 0.6 percentage points (pp) compared to July estimates.
The expected growth rates for the United States and the Euro area are 6% and 5% respectively, while the Chinese economy is expected to grow by 8%. Furthermore, Russia is expected to grow by a moderate 4.7% y/y, while Turkey’s expected growth rate is projected to be 9% y/y.