UN cuts global growth forecast over Mideast energy crisis

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Responding to Middle East crises and rising oil prices, the United Nations on Tuesday lowered its forecast for global economic growth and raised the prospects for inflation this year.

UN economists said global GDP growth is now forecast at 2.5 percent for 2026, down from 2.7 percent in January, and they said it could fall to only 2.1 percent “in a more adverse scenario.” That would be one of the weakest growth rates this century, outside of the COVID-19 pandemic and the glo