Europe, Central Asia May Face Decade Of 'Disappointing' Growth - World Bank

Faizan Hashmi Published March 27, 2023 | 10:58 PM

Emerging and developing countries in Europe and Central Asia may enter into a decade of disappointing economic growth mainly because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine, the World Bank said on Monday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 27th March, 2023) Emerging and developing countries in Europe and Central Asia may enter into a decade of disappointing economic growth mainly because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine, the World Bank said on Monday.

"The region is at risk of facing another decade of disappointing growth, as the pandemic and invasion of Ukraine inflict damage to the underlying drivers of long-term growth - especially labor productivity - by weakening investment, disrupting supply chains, hindering innovation, and scarring human capital through sustained education and job losses," the World Bank said in its new report.

The bank projected that regional output will shrink by about 0.3 percent in 2022 due to the conflict. It is also expected that in 2023 the growth will be very slow, according to the report.

"As a result, the regional economy faces large output losses - particularly in Russia and Ukraine," it added.

However, migration from Ukraine can soften some labor supply constrains in some countries in the region, particularly Poland and Romania, which have accepted large numbers of Ukrainian refugees, the report said.

The inflows of Ukrainian refugees could boost the labor supply by around 1 million in Poland and over 60,000 in Romania, it added.