India, June 11 -- Global economic growth is expected to decline this year due to increased trade barriers and policy uncertainty, the World Bank said in a report published on Tuesday.

Growth is projected to weaken to 2.3 per cent, or nearly half a percentage point lower than expected at the start of the year, according to the Global Economic Prospects report.

"Accordingly, pauses to previously announced tariff hikes between the United States and its trading partners are assumed to persist."

Although a global recession is not expected, average global growth is on track to be the slowest of any decade since the 1960s.

Growth forecasts are being slashed in nearly 70 per cent of all economies, with the poorest countries most affected.

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