The International Monetary Fund has expressed an extremely grim outlook for a coronavirus-ravaged world economy.

IMF Chief Economist Gita Gopinath writes, “It is very likely that this year the global economy will experience its worst recession since the Great Depression…….”

In the IMF’s latest report on the global economy, titled “The Great Lockdown”, the coronavirus pandemic is described as a crisis “like no other”. The IMF warns of ambiguity around the global growth forecast, citing the pathway of the pandemic, and changes in consumer behaviour, amongst other factors.

Under the Fund’s best-case scenario, the world is likely to lose a collective $9 trillion in productivity over two years. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said last week that some $8 trillion in fiscal stimulus being poured in by governments to stave off collapse was not likely to be enough. Georgieva is expected to argue this week for greater debt relief for the world’s poorest countries.

Umm Muhammed Umar