This year will be the world economy’s worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s, the International Monetary Fund says, due to the effects of the spreading viral pandemic. The IMF expects the global economy to shrink 3% this year before rebounding in 2021 with 5.8% growth. The prospect for a rebound next year remains uncertain, however. “The world has been put in a great lockdown,’’ the IMF’s chief economist, Gita Gopinath, told reporters. “This is a crisis like no other.”
According to the IMF’s latest projections, economies will shrink 5.9% in the United States, 7.5% in the 19 euro zone countries, 5.2% in Japan and 6.5% in the United Kingdom. China, where the pandemic originated, is expected to eke out 1.2% growth this year. The world’s secondbiggest economy began to reverse its lockdown well before other countries. Worldwide trade will plummet 11% this year, the IMF predicts, and then grow 8.4% in 2021
2020 World Outlook
