By the end of this year, developing economies are expected to record the weakest long-term growth outlook since 2000, said the World Bank on Thursday.
In this case, developing economies include all those that are not classified as advanced economies.
Growth in these territories will hold steady at about 4% over the next two years, according to the World Bank’s latest report.
When compared to global growth – predicted at 2.7% in both 2025 and 2026 – developing nations seem to be overperforming.
Even so, their progress is still slowing when compared with their own historical levels of growth.
In the period from 2000 to 2010, the World Bank noted that developing economies grew at the fastest rate since the 1970s.
The financial crash of 2008-9 then stalled this expansion, hindering trade, investment and the economic integration of nations.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into developing economies – as a share of GDP – are now at about half the level of the early 2000s, said the World Bank.
In 2024, the report added that new global trade restrictions were five times the average from 2010 to 2019.
Given the imminent arrival of president-elect Donald Trump to the White House, it’s likely that international trade tensions are also set to grow in the coming years.
The Republican leader has referred to “tariff” as “the most beautiful word in the dictionary” – and has threatened levies on overseas goods arriving from nations like China and Mexico.
