People enjoy the views of the Manhattan Skyline from Edge at Hudson Yards in New York City, Jan. 10. UPI-Yonhap

The World Bank slashed its 2023 growth forecasts on Tuesday to levels teetering on the brink of recession for many countries as the impact of central bank rate hikes intensifies, Russia's war in Ukraine continues, and the world's major economic engines sputter.

The development lender said it expected global GDP growth of 1.7 percent in 2023, the slowest pace outside the 2009 and 2020 recessions since 1993. In its previous Global Economic Prospects report in June 2022, the bank had forecast 2023 global growth at 3.0 percent.

It forecast global growth in 2024 to pick up to 2.7 percent ― below the 2.9 percent estimate for 2022 ― and said average growth for the 2020-2024 period would be under 2 percent ― the slowest five-year pace since 1960.

The bank said major slowdowns in advanced economies, including sharp cuts to its forecast to 0.5 percent for both the United States and the euro zone, could foreshadow a new global recession less than three years after the last one.