Latin America remains the epicentre of the global Novel Coronavirus outbreak, with the World Bank forecasting economic growth of less than 3% for the region in 2022 and 2023.

Latin America and the Caribbean could face a new "lost decade" if reforms are not urgently implemented to boost economic growth and ease social tensions as the impact of the Novel Coronavirus pandemic takes years to fade, the World Bank warned on Thursday.

In its report, "Restoring growth: Rebuilding resilient Post-PANDEMIC Economies under Budgetary Constraints," the World Bank notes that it is more important than ever to restore dynamic, inclusive and sustainable economic growth to compensate for the aftermath of the pandemic and to meet continuing social needs.

The world Bank said in its report that the region's economy is likely to grow 6.3 percent in 2021, helped by accelerated COVID-19 vaccination and a drop in deaths, but would still not fully offset the 6.7 percent contraction in 2020.

The World Bank raised its 2021 growth forecast for Latin America, citing strong recoveries in the region's major economies, continued declines in global interest rates and favorable prospects for primary products.

In 2022 and 2023, the region is expected to grow by less than 3 percent, the report said.

While not all the news is positive, the World Bank's forecast is more optimistic than that of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, which recently updated its growth forecast for the region this year to 5.9%.

The COVID-19 crisis could lead to a new "lost decade", which suggests deeper structural problems in the region, the World Bank said in the report.

Economists agree that structural problems exacerbated by the pandemic have constrained economic growth in the region for decades.

Latin American economies were already stagnating before the outbreak, the report said. Between 2014 and 2019, Latin America grew at an average rate of 0.3 percent, down from 0.9 percent during World War I and 1.3 percent during the Great Depression, according to ECLAC.

The world Bank said the region's economy grew just 0.8 percent in 2019 and fell 6.7 percent in 2020.