WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – The World Bank (WB) lowered its forecast for the average oil price for the next two years to $67 per barrel, down $4 from its December forecast.
In December, the World Bank expected oil price to average at $71 per barrel in 2019-2021, in June forecast it predicted $69 per barrel.
“Oil prices are expected to average $67/bbl in 2019 and 2020, $2/bbl lower than June projections; however, uncertainty around the forecast is high,” the bank’s report says.
The World Bank also said in its global economic outlook it had lowered its forecast for global economic growth by 0.1 percentage points to 2.9 percent due to a fall in trade and manufacturing, as well as due to trade wars.
“Global economic growth is projected to soften from a downwardly revised 3 percent in 2018 to 2.9 percent in 2019 amid rising downside risks to the outlook… International trade and manufacturing activity have softened, trade tensions remain elevated, and some large emerging markets have experienced substantial financial market pressures,” the bank said.
GDP growth forecast for the next year is also revised downward by the same 0.1 percentage points to 2.8 percent.
At the same time, the bank kept the 2019 growth forecast for developed economies and for the United States unchanged at 2 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively. The 2019 forecast for the euro area was lowered by 0.1 percentage points to 1.6 percent.
However, the bank slashed US GDP growth outlook for 2020 by 0.3 percentage points to 1.7 percent.
Chinese GDP growth forecast was lowered by 0.1 percentage points to 6.2 percent in 2019 and kept unchanged at the same 6.2 percent in 2020.
The bank maintained its December forecast for Russia’s GDP for 2019 and 2020 at 1.5 percent and 1.8 percent, respectively.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
