WB Global Economic Prospects forecasts lowest economic growth in MENA and Sub-Sahara Africa, and in conflict-affected countries. In its new Global Economic Prospects report, WB forecasts the global economy to expand by 5.6% in 2021, driven largely by a few big economies. Amid very uneven vaccine access and pandemic recovery, low-income countries will only have a 2.9% GDP growth rate in 2021, and output levels in 2022 predicted to be 4.9% lower than pre-pandemic projections. In conflict-affected low-income countries, the pandemic exacerbated underlying challenges so that growth is expected to average 2.5% in 2021-22, about 0.7% point below previous forecast due to a degraded security situation and increased debt burdens. In 75% of them, per capita income losses incurred in 2020 will still not be caught up by 2022.