Global growth faces durability risks into 2026, UN agency says

WORLD economic activity will remain “subdued” next year amid trade uncertainty and geopolitical tensions that are restraining investment outside of artificial intelligence and weighing on government finances, a UN agency predicted in a new report.

- BLOOMBERG

Global growth will weaken this year to 2.6% and maintain that pace in 2026, according to the report released this week by the Geneva-based UN Conference on Trade and Development. After a 2.9% expansion last year, those projections if realized would be 0.4 percentage point lower than the pre-pandemic average.

“The global economy and trade have shown resilience during 2024 and 2025,’ Rebeca Grynspan, secretary-general of the United Nations agency, said in an interview. “But the reasons may not be sustainable if we don't lower uncertainty and we don't go back to some predictability for investment really to pick up”