International Monetary Fund's (IMF's) First Deputy Managing Director Geoffrey Okamoto offered his take on the likely impact of the new Omicron covid variant on the global economic growth forecasts.

Key quotes

"We project the global economic growth at 5.9 percent in 2021 and to decline to 4.9 percent next year. I think it is important to emphasize the possibility of a decline due to the Omicron variant,"

“A decline in the 2021 projection was in line with the decrease in the gross domestic product (GDP) in the third quarter of 2021 due to the spread of positive cases of the Delta variant around the world.”

“This crisis will have a prolonged effect on the economy and vulnerable groups since the Omicron variant had created a sense of uncertainty about the COVID-19 situation.”

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