OECD: Global economy rebounding faster than expected

The world economy is bouncing back from the COVID-19 pandemic faster than expected, thanks to successful coronavirus vaccines and U.S. stimulus efforts, the OECD said.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) raised its expectations for global GDP growth to 5.5% this year and 4% next year in a report released Tuesday. That is up from a December forecast of 4.2% growth in 2021 and 3.7% for 2022.

The OECD now expects global output to surpass pre-pandemic levels by the middle of this year.

Nevertheless, the group warned of uneven progress, with faster growth in China and the U.S. and other regions expected to continue struggling until the end of 2022.

The Paris-based organization also expressed caution, warning that new virus variants and too-slow vaccine rollouts could derail the possibility of improvement for businesses and jobs.

Nearly 10 million people across the OECD’s 36 mostly rich-country member states became unemployed during the crisis. In poorer countries, “substantial job losses have increased poverty and deprivation of millions of workers,” the report stated.