How much will the coronavirus cost the world?
This is how much the coronavirus will cost the world’s economy, according to the UN
The UN’s trade and development agency says the slowdown in the global economy caused by the coronavirus outbreak is likely to cost at least $1 trillion.
UNCTAD says the fall in oil prices has been a contributing factor to the “growing sense of unease and panic”.
Apart from the tragic human consequences of the COVID-19 coronavirus epidemic, the economic uncertainty it has sparked will likely cost the global economy $1 trillion in 2020, the UN’s trade and development agency, UNCTAD, said on Monday.
“We envisage a slowdown in the global economy to under two percent for this year, and that will probably cost in the order of $1 trillion, compared with what people were forecasting back in September,” said Richard Kozul-Wright, Director, Division on Globalization and Development Strategies at UNCTAD.
Doomsday scenario
One “Doomsday scenario” in which the world economy grew at only 0.5 percent, would involve “a $2 trillion hit” to gross domestic product, he said, adding that collapsing oil prices had been “a contributing factor to that growing sense of unease and panic”.
While it was difficult to predict how the international financial markets will react to COVID-19’s impacts “what they do suggest is a world that is extremely anxious”, he said.
“There’s a degree of anxiety now that’s well beyond the health scares which are very serious and concerning.”
Source: weforum.org
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