The World Bank on Thursday cut its global growth forecast for 2026 to 2.5 percent due to the war in the Middle East, and said growth could slow to just 1.3 percent if energy supply disruptions prove more severe and come with substantial stress in financial markets. Global growth reached 2.9 percent in 2025, the bank said in its semi-annual Global Economic Prospects, up 0.2 percentage point from its estimate in January. Its 2026 forecast is down 0.1 percentage point from January, the lowest seen since the COVID pandemic that began in late 2019. [...]