IMF forecasts worst global economic slump since the Great Depression

The coronavirus pandemic will spark the worst global economic fallout since the Great Depression of the 1920s and 1930s, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned on Thursday.

“The world is facing an unprecedented crisis in the coming year, a period which would be unusually difficult,’’ IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, told a news conference in Washington.

Georgieva said that even if the pandemic loosened its grip in the second half of the year and parts of the economy were allowed to re-start, only a partial recovery could be expected.

The IMF chief emphasised how difficult it was to make prognoses of this kind.

The situation could end up being even worse, depending on how long the pandemic lasts.  (dpa/NAN)