Reuters reports that data from the investment manager’s Global Dividend Index showed that global dividends are forecast to rise to $1.39 trillion this year, to reflect a stronger than expected recovery in the company payouts. Latest estimate, up 2.2 percentage points from an earlier one, is just 3% below the pre-pandemic peak.

Dividends, a company payout to shareholders, slumped last year against the backdrop of the COVID-crisis as regulatory constraints and government pressures to restrict payments weighed.

But a strong recovery is currently under way, with headline growth at 26.3% in the second quarter, data from the investment manager’s Global Dividend Index showed.

Underlying growth - adjusted for special dividends, changes in currency, timing effects, and index changes – was 11.2%.On a year-on-year basis, 2021 growth is expected at 10.7%, equivalent to an underlying rebound of 8.5%.

Dividends from companies restarting payments totalled $33.3 billion and accounted for three-quarters of the underlying growth in the second quarter, the report said.