What is stagflation? Here’s why it matters and what you should know.

The global economy could be heading for slow growth, rising prices and high unemployment, economists are warning, a toxic brew that could hamper countries’ recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

The World Bank on Tuesday warned that those forces, called “stagflation,” could induce years’ worth of struggles. And persistent challenges — such as supply chain snags, Russia’s attack on Ukraine and continuing waves of covid-19 cases — could harm consumers and employers alike, settling world markets into a downturn that they largely avoided when the pandemic first struck.