The world economy is still scathed and dwelling in ruins
Parts of the world might be back to normal with countries easing some restrictions on the flow of daily life. For some parts, the crisis plays a background role in the wake of seemingly more pressing issues that are a matter of race and death. On the economic side of things, COVID-19 is still interrupting the daily flow of life.
Coronavirus isn’t only leaving behind thousands of bodies in graves. The economic damage it is leaving in its wake has forced the hand of several governments with no choice but to make the difficult calls.
For the first time in nearly 3 decades, Australia looks to be on course to a recession. This is coming from figures that show a drop in the country’s economic performance in the first three months of the year. According to the Bureau of Statistics’ Chief economist, the country recorded its “slowest through-the-year growth since 2009”.
Across the globe, the USA has officially declared that its economy is in a recession, putting an official end to a decade’s worth of expansion. Measures taken in place to curb the spread of the virus between citizens meant businesses were forced to make several cuts. Nearly 22 million jobs were cut between March and April.
The World Bank expressed its predictions for the current state of the economic affairs, one of such being the possibility of a 5.2% shrink in the global economy.It is clear that COVID-19 is moulding the growth of our global economy. June 2020s Global Economic Prospects talks about a 5.2% contraction in global GDP this year, regardless of the several efforts of governments to counter the impending reality with fiscal and monetary policy support.
There is an urgent need to move quickly and put in place measures that will protect the citizens of the world and propel ailing economies into recovery, especially in the case of developing countries.
Coronavirus is threatening to reverse years and years of progress made by these economies, as well as throw several thousands of the global population back into the binding bit of poverty.It seems the pandemic is throwing the ball in the court of the global economy; protect your citizens or protect your pockets. The plot twist here is, at the end of the day, no matter how much we may try to cushion the blow, the economies will still come out scathed and dwelling in ruins.
