World Economy to shrink by 1.7 pc: World Bank

Washington, Mar 31: Global Economy will be shrinking by 1.7 per cent in 2009. This will be the first-ever contraction since World War II. The shrink will be 2.9 per cent in high-income countries, the World Bank said on Tuesday, Mar 31.

The year long global economic crisis has prompted a dramatic 2.6 point downward revision of a Nov estimate of 0.9 per cent growth.

The financial institution in an outlook update released two days before a Group of 20 summit on the economic crisis in London said that the developing countries have been hit very hard and they lack the means to cope up with the crisis.

Gross domestic product (GDP) growth in developing countries is expected to slow to 2.1 per cent from 5.8 per cent in 2008, it said.

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