World's economic output to exceed US$100t in 2022: report

London

THE world's economic output will exceed US$100 trillion for the first time in 2022 and it will take China a little longer than previously thought to overtake the United States as the world's largest economy, a report showed on Sunday (Dec 26).

The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), a British consultancy, predicted that China will become the world's top economy in dollar terms in 2030, 2 years later than forecast in last year's World Economic League Table report.

India looks set to overtake France next year and then Britain in 2023 to regain its place as the world's sixth biggest economy and become the third largest in 2031, CEBR said.

"The important issue for the 2020s is how the world economies cope with inflation, which has now reached 6.8 per cent in the US," said the consultancy's deputy chairman Douglas McWilliams.

"We hope that a relatively modest adjustment to the tiller will bring the non-transitory elements under control. If not, then the world will need to brace itself for a recession in 2023 or 2024," he said.

The report showed that Germany was on track to overtake Japan in terms of economic output in 2033.

Russia could become a top 10 economy by 2036 and Indonesia - the largest economy in South-east Asia - looks on track for ninth place in 2034.

The report also noted that climate change will lower consumer spending by US$2 trillion a year on average through 2036 as companies pass on the cost of decarbonising investment. REUTERS