TEHRAN – The World Bank has predicted that Iran’s gross domestic product (GDP) will increase by 2.1 percent in 2021 after experiencing a 5.3 percent fall in the current year due to the negative impacts of the coronavirus outbreak.

“Iran’s GDP is expected to shrink again in 2020, by 5.3 percent, partly reflecting the effects of the large-scale COVID-19 outbreak on domestic consumption and the services sectors (e.g., tourism),” WB said in its latest report on the global economy dubbed “Global Economic Prospects” released on Monday.

Underlining the downward trend of inflation among West Asian countries, World Bank stated that “Iran’s inflation has been falling on a year-by-year basis, although it remains elevated at about 20 percent.”

The bank’s data show that 2020 is going to be the last year with a negative economic growth rate for Iran since in 2021 Iran's economic growth rate is projected at 2.1 percent.

Based on the WB report, the worst economic performance this year is going to be in the Eurozone. Economic growth in the region by the end of 2020 will fall by 9.1 percent. The U.S. economy will also grow negatively by 6.1 percent.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the economic shutdown in advanced economies and other parts of the globe have disrupted billions of lives and are jeopardizing decades of development progress, the bank said.

Based on the report, the pandemic will shrink global GDP by 5.2 percent in 2020, the worst since World War II and nearly three times as steep as the 2009 global recession.

Although the World Bank projects a rebound of 4.2 percent in 2021, it warned that an “even worse scenario is possible” if the health crisis takes longer than expected to contain.

EF/MA