China will overtake the United States to become the world's biggest economy in 2028, five years earlier than previously estimated due to the contrasting recoveries of the two countries from the COVID-19 pandemic, Reuters reported.
"For some time, an overarching theme of global economics has been the economic and soft power struggle between the United States and China," the Centre for Economics and Business Research said in an annual report published on Saturday.
"The COVID-19 pandemic and corresponding economic fallout have certainly tipped this rivalry in China's favour."
The Reuters report quoted CEBR stating China's "skilful management of the pandemic, with its strict early lockdown, and hits to long-term growth in the West meant China's relative economic performance had improved."
China would have an economic growth of 5.7 per cent annually from 2021-25. The traction would slow down between 2026-30 to 4.5 per cent a year .
Moreover, the United States growth would deterioriate to 1.9 per cent a year between 2022 and 2024. It will fall to 1.6 per cent after that.
The CEBR also mentioned that Japan would be the world's third-biggest economy until the early 2030s when it would be overtaken by India.
The United Kingdom, would slip to sixth place from 2024. It is currently in the fifth place.
