Brussels (People’s Daily) - The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on Wednesday released the Trade and Development Report 2021, which predicts global growth of 5.3 percent in 2021, its fastest rate in nearly five decades, and real growth of global trade in goods and services of 9.5 percent.

Photo: Agencies

The report says this year will see the global economy bounce back thanks to the continuation of radical policy interventions begun in 2020 and a successful vaccine roll-out in advanced economies.

The recovery, however, is predicted to be uneven across geographical, income and sectoral lines.

In a press release on Wednesday, UNCTAD Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan said the widening gaps were “a reminder” that underlying conditions will make resilience and growth luxuries enjoyed by fewer and fewer privileged people.

“Without bolder policies that reflect reinvigorated multilateralism, the post-pandemic recovery will lack equity and fail to meet the challenges of our times,” Grynspan was quoted as saying in the release.

According to the report, the damage from the COVID-19 crisis across the world, particularly in developing regions, has been greater than that from the global financial crisis.

The biggest risk for the global economy is that a rebound in the North will divert attention from long-needed reforms without which developing countries will remain in a weak and vulnerable position.

“The pandemic has created an opportunity to rethink the core principles of international economic governance, a chance that was missed after the global financial crisis,” Richard Kozul-Wright, director of the UNCTAD globalization and development strategies division, was quoted as saying.