As we embark on a new year, the World Bank is painting a grim picture of the global economy, which is projected to slow for the third year in a row, according to the bank’s.

In its Global Economic Prospects Report, the World Bank is projecting that global growth will slow from 2.6 per cent last year to 2.4 per cent this year.

The multilateral lender noted that while the global economy is in a better place than it was a year ago, where the risk of a global recession has receded because of the strength of the U.S. economy, mounting geopolitical tensions could create a fresh near-term hazard for the world economy.

Developing economies are projected to grow just 3.9 per cent, which is more than one percentage point below the previous decade, while low-income countries are projected to grow 5.5 per cent.

The World Bank projects that one out of every four developing countries and about 40 per cent of low-income countries will be poorer than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic.

For advanced economies, growth is projected to slow to 1.2 per cent in 2024, moving from 1.5 per cent last year.

Ayhan Kose, deputy chief economist and director of the prospects group at the World Bank said: “Investment booms have the potential to transform developing economies and help them speed up the energy transition and achieve a wide variety of development objectives.”

“To spark such booms, developing economies need to implement comprehensive policy packages to improve fiscal and monetary frameworks, expand cross-border trade and financial flows, improve the investment climate, and strengthen the quality of institutions. That is hard work, but many developing economies have been able to do it before. Doing it again will help mitigate the projected slowdown in potential growth in the rest of this decade,” he added.