It seems that the world economy has entered 2026, continuing to grow, but in an unbalanced way. As the Interim Economic Outlook of the OECD indicated, the world GDP is estimated to increase by 2.9% in 2026, driven by “buoyant investment in technology, but offset in part by higher energy prices, geopolitical tensions, and shifts in trade policies.” The growth of the G20 economy is projected to be 3.1%, which hides big differences, while the developing countries grew faster than many of their G20 counterparts.
India Surpasses Other Major Economies
India is forecast to grow at 7.1%, compared to 5.2% for Indonesia and 4.5% for China. South Korea is expected to grow by 3.7%. Other major developing economies forecast to grow at a healthy pace include Türkiye at 2.7%, Argentina and Spain at 2.6%, and the United States at 2.2%. Brazil is expected to grow at 2%, compared to 1.9% for Australia.
The outlook suggests that the level of economic growth is set to be highly varied across different world regions in 2026. In general, developing Asian economies are forecast to grow faster than most developed countries.
Developed Countries: Growth Rate Below 2 Percent
Several developed economies are forecasting growth rates of below 2 percent. Mexico is forecasting growth of 1.5 percent, South Africa 1.2 percent, and the United Kingdom and Germany 1.1 percent, while the Euro area is forecasting 1 percent growth. Canada and Italy are forecasting 0.9 percent growth compared to 0.8 percent for Japan. France is expected to grow at 0.4 percent, with Saudi Arabia forecast to register negative growth of 1.8 percent.
A forecast of the OECD shows that growth in all world regions will continue to vary in 2026, with India and a number of other developing countries surpassing industrialized nations in economic growth.
