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UN PhotoUN / WORLD ECONOMIC SITUATION PROSPECTS 2026
STORY: UN / WORLD ECONOMIC SITUATION PROSPECTS 2026
TRT: 03:24
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 08 JANUARY 2026, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE – NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, United Nations Headquarters
08 JANUARY 2026, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, press conference dais
3. Wide shot, journalists
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Navid Hanif, Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development, Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), United Nations:
“As we bid farewell to a turbulent 2025, our assessment indicates that the global economy has demonstrated resilience. Growth has remained steady, below pre-pandemic rates, but stronger than previously anticipated. We project economic growth is to stabilise at 2.7 percent this year, compared to 2.8 percent in 2025. Last year, sharp tariff hikes disrupted global trade, yet the system proved more resilient than anticipated. But resilience should not be mistaken for strength.”
5. Med shot, journalist
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Navid Hanif, Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development, Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), United Nations:
“We expect trade growth to moderate under the combined pressure of protectionist measures and geopolitical tensions. At the same time, cost of living pressures persist, hitting poor households the hardest. Gender gaps remain wide and youth unemployment continues to be stubbornly high.”
7. Wide shot, dais
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Shantanu Mukherjee, Director, Economic Analysis and Policy Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), United Nations:
“In developed countries where GDP per person was already quite high, it continued to grow at an increasing rate from 1.2 percent in the 2000s, all the way through to 1.7 percent in the post-pandemic period over the last years. While developing countries have also seen some growth in GDP per person, the pace has been slowing down. In the most recent period, it has been 3.3 percent lower than the 4.3 percent of the 2000s.”
9. Med shot, dais
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Ingo Pitterle, Senior Economist and Officer-in-Charge, Global Economic Monitoring Branch, Economic Analysis and Policy Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), United Nations:
“Benefits from growth are often concentrated within a narrow range of economic sectors and population groups, leaving many communities behind. And 2025 brought yet another record for global carbon emissions, which is a stark reminder that the world remains off track in achieving its climate goals.”
11. Wide shot, dais
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Shantanu Mukherjee, Director, Economic Analysis and Policy Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), United Nations:
“Although the announced rates were very high, in the process of implementation, the actual effective rates have been lower, partly because – as Ingo said - people front loaded shipments to avoid the tariffs; partly because there were often exemptions for various categories of goods. And also, because over the years some kinds of deals, bilateral deals were struck. So overall, if you look at how much has been collected in terms of tariffs, in terms of revenue, it turns out to be effective rate is about 15 percent, not 28 percent as we had thought.”
13. Wide shot, end of presser
At the launch of the 2026 World Economic Situation and Prospects report today (8 Jan), Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development Navid Hanif told reporters that while underlying weaknesses persist, “the global economy has demonstrated resilience,” and “growth has remained steady, below pre-pandemic rates, but stronger than previously anticipated.”
The report, produced by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), projects economic growth “to stabilise at 2.7 percent this year, compared to 2.8 percent in 2025,” Hanif said.
He pointed out that “last year, sharp tariff hikes disrupted global trade, yet the system proved more resilient than anticipated.”
Hanif said, “we expect trade growth to moderate under the combined pressure of protectionist measures and geopolitical tensions. At the same time, cost of living pressures persist, hitting poor households the hardest. Gender gaps remain wide and youth unemployment continues to be stubbornly high.”
The Director of Economic Analysis and Policy Division at DESA, Shantanu Mukherjee, for his part said GDP per person in developed countries “continued to grow at an increasing rate from 1.2 percent in the 2000s, all the way through to 1.7 percent in the post-pandemic period over the last years.”
In developing countries, he continued, “the pace has been slowing down. In the most recent period, it has been 3.3 percent lower than the 4.3 percent of the 2000s.”
Senior Economist Ingo Pitterle said, “benefits from growth are often concentrated within a narrow range of economic sectors and population groups, leaving many communities behind. And 2025 brought yet another record for global carbon emissions, which is a stark reminder that the world remains off track in achieving its climate goals.”
Responding to a reporter’s question on the effect of tariffs imposed by the United States, Mukherjee said, “although the announced rates were very high, in the process of implementation, the actual effective rates have been lower, partly because – as Ingo said - people front loaded shipments to avoid the tariffs; partly because there were often exemptions for various categories of goods. And also, because over the years some kinds of deals, bilateral deals were struck. So overall, if you look at how much has been collected in terms of tariffs, in terms of revenue, it turns out to be effective rate is about 15 percent, not 28 percent as we had thought.”
However, the report indicates that the impact of higher tariffs, coupled with elevated macroeconomic uncertainties, is expected to become more evident in 2026.
