The World Bank released on June 8, 2021 the 30^th anniversary edition of its “Global Economic Prospects – June 2021” report in which it forecasted world economic growth to improve from an estimated contraction of 3.5% in 2020 to a growth of 5.6% in 2021 (3.2% below pre-pandemic projections), partly owing to uneven global vaccination, the gradual easing of pandemic-control measures in several countries and rising confidence levels. The World Bank also expects world growth to stand at 4.3% in 2022 (1.8% below pre-pandemic projections) and 3.1% in 2023, noting that the global outlook is still bleak and subject to various downside risks such as the possibility of large COVID-19 waves amid the emergence of new strains of the virus. In addition, the report stated that high global debt levels make the global financial system vulnerable to an abrupt rise in interest rates which could result from a rise in risk aversion, inflation, or expectations of faster monetary tightening. Furthermore, the report noted that an increase in bankruptcies could damage the banking system, tighten the flow of credit and lead to credit crunches. The report commented that the biggest priority right now is to control the pandemic by overcoming obstacles in acquiring and distributing vaccines. In this vein, the World Bank also commented that as the pandemic effects are tamed, policy actions will also be required to address its negative effects. From another standpoint, the World Bank expected growth in advanced economies to improve from an estimated contraction of 4.7% in 2020 to a growth of 5.4% in 2021, 4.0% in 2022 and 2.2% in 2023. The report further revealed that advanced economies are experiencing some recovery with regards to sales & production of goods (at or above pre-pandemic levels), while they are struggling to overcome the negative effects stemming from the pandemic and the associated lockdown measures. Similarly, the World Bank projected economic growth in Emerging Markets & Developing Economies (EMDEs) to rise from a contraction of 1.7% in 2020 to a growth of 6.0% in 2021, before slowing to 4.7% in 2022 and 4.4% in 2023. According to the World Bank, the uneven progress with regards to vaccination has led to sharp resurgences of COVID-19 cases in EMDEs which, in turn, have dampened recovery in several EMDEs. On the regional front, the World Bank anticipated the economy of the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region to have contracted by 3.9% in 2020, with expectations of a growth of 2.4% in 2021, 3.5% in 2022 and 3.2% in 2023. The World Bank commented that the stronger than expected economic recovery in oil exporting countries during the second half of 2020 led to a projected 2.3% GDP growth in 2021 amid higher oil prices (in light of oil production cuts), which are expected to average $62 per barrel in 2021 and 2022. In this vein, the report noted that GDP in 2022 for oil exporting countries is projected to be 5% below pre-pandemic levels. On the other hand, oil importing economies are expected to grow by 2.8% in 2021, as the pandemic is jeopardizing recoveries in several economies. The World Bank projected economic growth to rebound to 3.8% in 2022 and 4.2% in 2023 as the pandemic is brought under control and restrictions are lifted. The report noted that the COVID-19 virus has resurged in the MENA region, with the number of daily cases reaching an all-time high in two-thirds of the economies. More on that front, the World Bank commented that the administered COVID-19 vaccine doses remain a small fraction of the population, citing in this respect that the number of confirmed purchases amount to only about half of the region’s population. On a local basis, the World Bank projected Lebanon’s real GDP to have contracted by 6.7% in 2019, and expects larger economic contractions of 20.3% in 2020 and 9.5% in 2021. The report noted that forecasts beyond the year 2021 for Lebanon were removed due to “a high degree of uncertainty”. According to the World Bank, Lebanon is facing rapid food inflation & damage to food security infrastructure not to mention the resurgence of COVID-19 cases in early 2021. Furthermore, real growth figures were revised from those published in the January 2021 issue of the Global Economic Prospects report in which the World Bank had estimated economic contractions of 19.2% for 2020 and 13.2% for 2021.