The global economy will fizzle into a decade of sluggish growth in the 2020s as the current upswing fades and a slowdown in population kicks in, the World Bank has warned.

Its analysts expect the world economy to grow by 3.1pc this year, following a strong 2017 as the shadow of the financial crisis is at last shaken off.

But it will be the high point of a temporary cyclical recovery, as underlying structural problems make themselves known in the next decade.

Weak productivity growth across the world, poor levels of investment and the ageing of the global workforce will all dent GDP growth.

“This is a cyclical recovery, it is just a rebound from very weak growth in 2016. Underneath that there is a slowdown in potential growth,” said Franziska Ohnsorge, economist at the World Bank.