Washington, (IANS) The World Bank has lowered its forecast for the global growth in 2016 to 2.4 per cent, saying that the world economy is facing stronger headwinds.

In its Global Economic Prospects Report released on Tuesday, the Washington-based institution expected the world economy to grow 2.4 per cent in 2016, 0.5 percentage point lower than the bank’s forecast in January, Xinhua news agency reported.

“Although the global financial crisis is now seven years behind us, the world economy is still struggling to regain momentum,” said Kaushik Basu, chief economist at the World Bank.

Growth continues to falter in advanced economies, while there is considerable divergence of performance across emerging market and developing economies, and their overall growth remains below potential, said Basu.

According to the report, developing economies are forecast to expand by 3.5 per cent in 2016, 0.6 percentage point lower than its January’s projection; advanced economies are expected to grow 1.7 per cent this year, 0.5 lower than its January’s forecast.