The global economy enters 2022 in a weaker position than previously expected. The COVID-19 Omicron variant has prompted new mobility restrictions, energy price increases and supply disruptions have spurred inflation more than anticipated, and the ongoing retrenchment of China's real estate...

A tentative recovery in 2021 has been followed by increasingly gloomy developments in 2022 as risks began to materialize. Global output contracted in the second quarter of this year, owing to downturns in China and Russia, while US consumer spending undershot expectations. Several shocks have...