The global economy will decline sharply this year and recover in 2010, credit ratings agency Fitch forecast on April 7, in a further sign of international economic malaise.
Fitch said in its Global Economic Outlook that worldwide gross domestic product (GDP), which grew by 1.7% last year, would decline by 2.7% in 2009 and then recover to show growth of 1.4% in 2010.
Advanced economies, including the U.S., Japan and the euro area, would see the sharpest declines in GDP, by 3.8% in 2009, whereas emerging markets will continue to grow, albeit markedly slower, at a rate of 0.7%, according to Fitch.
Both groups of countries will see a recovery next year, however, to 0.6% and 3.9% respectively.
Brian Coulton, Fitch's head of global economics, said in a conference call with reporters that the ongoing economic downturn would be "easily the deepest recession since the Second World War."
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2009
