Europe’s biggest bank, HSBC has cut already bleak global growth forecasts even further, as lockdown restrictions extended through April and tentative economic re-openings drag on a return to business, trade, and spending, Report informs, citing
The bank lowered its 2020 global gross domestic product forecast to a contraction of 4.8%, according to a note from chief economist Janet Henry dated May 12 and published on Friday.
It had forecast a 3.3% contraction for the year in early April. Many large banks last published growth forecasts around then, and the cut could signal another round of dire predictions.
HSBC has downgraded its 2020 forecasts for the developed world from a contraction of 5.9% to a contraction of 7.1% and emerging economies from 0.5% growth to a 1.7% contraction. It forecasts full-year US GDP at -7.0% and China’s at 1.7% growth.