The global economy will recover this year from its coronavirus slump at a pace not seen since the 1970s as strong momentum builds in most major economies, according to Reuters polls of over 500 economists. That optimism was largely led by the widely expected vaccinedriven recovery, massive liquidity injections, unprecedented fiscal support primarily by the United States, with more in the pipeline and continued adaptation of economic activity to overcome subdued mobility.

With many countries still facing challenges from the pandemic, when asked on the likelihood of a renewed spike in coronavirus cases derailing the global economic recovery this year, economists were split in the Reuters polls taken over the past month. But 2021 growth views for 55 of 44 economies polled on were upgraded from three months ago, led by the U.S. economy which was predicted to mark the fastest annual expansion since 1984 and China, set to return to precrisis levels this year.

The devastating pandemic pushed the world economy into its deepestever recession last year, but the poll showed a sharp rebound with the global economy predicted to grow on average 5.9 this year, the fastest since the 1970s. That compared to 5.3 expected in January and a sharp upgrade compared to expectations from a year ago, when the pandemic took hold. While the latest consensus is just a touch below the International Monetary Funds 6 projection, nearly 30 of 74 economists predicted world GDP growth in excess of the…