Covid-19: Global Economy In Recession Worse Than 2009 – IMF

The International Monetary and Financial, (IMF), has said it is now clear the world economy is in a recession and recovery may only be in 2021. The IMF Managing Director Ms Kristalina Georgieva gave the indication yesterday at a call conference press briefing of the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC). “We have reassessed the prospect for growth for 2020 and 2021.

It is now clear that we have entered a recession – as bad as or worse than in 2009,” she said. “We do project recovery in 2021-in fact there may be a sizeable rebound, but only if we succeed with containing the virus – everywhere – and prevent liquidity problems from becoming a solvency issue” she explained further.

The IMF is also worried about the long-lasting impact of the sudden stop of the world economy because of the risk of a wave of bankruptcies and layoffs that not only can undermine the recovery but can erode the fabric of our societies. To avoid this happening, she said “many countries have taken far-reaching measures to address the health crisis and to cushion its impact on the economy – both on the monetary and on the fiscal side.”

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“The G20 yesterday reported fiscal measures totaling some 5 trillion dollars or over 6 % of global GDP. It is important for those ahead in taking action to share their experience with those still behind.

To support this, last night the IMF launched a policy actions tracker for 186 countries to help us all to see who is doing what. We will be updating this information regularly and will provide country-specific analysis in line with our surveillance mandate,” she explained.

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