According to its updated global economic outlook report, the bank forecasts a global GDP growth of 2.6% this year.
The figure is 0.2 percentage points higher to it projected in June.
But the rate still represents a slowdown compared to the 2.7% pace observed in 2025, and the World Bank warns that the 2020s “goes on track to be the weakest for global growth since 1960.”
The global economy has been more resilient than expected over the past year, the report noted, despite a “historic escalation in trade tensions and policy uncertainty.”
Shortly after taking office a year ago, President Donald Trump announced widespread tariffs on U.S. trading partners, disrupting supply chains and increasing economic uncertainty.
Many American companies increased imports before the new tariffs came into effect, and at the same time there was a boom in investments related to artificial intelligence, the WB added.
Global trade growth is now “expected to slow markedly in 2026 as stockpiling fades and the impact of tariff measures intensifies,” the World Bank said.
As countries adjust and policy uncertainty decreases, the World Bank anticipates that trade growth will strengthen again in 2027.
However, the weak pace of growth is widening the gap in living standards globally.
Furthermore, “in the coming years, the global economy is destined to grow more slowly than in the stormy 1990s, while saddled with record levels of public and private debt,” warned World Bank chief economist Indermit Gill.
“To avoid stagnation and unemployment, governments in emerging and advanced economies must aggressively liberalize private investment and trade, contain public spending and invest in new technologies and education,” he said.
