IMF expects the worst economic downturn since Great Depression



04/10/2020 3:14 AM


For 2020, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression due to the situation with the coronavirus COVID-19, said IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva. More than 170 countries will face declining incomes, the IMF head said during a speech in Washington on the eve of the spring session of the governing bodies of the IMF and the World Bank.



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“We are still confronted with incredible uncertainty about the depth and duration of this crisis. However, it is now clear that the growth of the global economy will become sharply negative in 2020 <...>. In fact, we anticipate the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression,” said Mrs. Georgieva.

Mrs. Georgieva believes that COVID-19 has undermined the public and economic order “at lightning speed” and on a scale that people living today don’t remember. “Just three months ago, we expected per capita income growth in 2020 in more than 160 member countries. Today these figures are turned upside down: now we predict that there will be a negative increase in per capita income in more than 170 countries this year,” she said.

According to the head of the IMF, this “gloomy forecast” refers to countries with both developed and developing economies. “Everyone will suffer,” she added.

Earlier, Kristalina Georgieva said that the IMF will double its aid to countries to $ 100 billion to combat coronavirus. More than 90 countries of the world have applied for emergency support.

source: imf.org


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