IMF Suggests COVID19 Lockdown Could Cause Worst Economic Downturn Since The Great Depression

The International Monetary Fund IMF Economic Chancellor and Director of Research Department, Gina Gopinath, wrote a post on the IMF blog pointing out why the current COVID-19 lockdown could result in the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.  

The speed at which this coronavirus pandemic has caused most countries across the world to change has been unprecedented.  There is a lot of uncertainty about both the virus itself and how it will affect life and business afterword as well.  Below is a quote from the IMF article that sums it up well.

This is a crisis like no other, and there is substantial uncertainty about its impact on people’s lives and livelihoods. A lot depends on the epidemiology of the virus, the effectiveness of containment measures, and the development of therapeutics and vaccines, all of which are hard to predict. In addition, many countries now face multiple crises—a health crisis, a financial crisis, and a collapse in commodity prices, which interact in complex ways.

Hopefully the next few weeks will give us a better feel for how long this crisis could last and just how much of a lasting impact it will have on our society.  

Source - https://blogs.imf.org/2020/04/14/the-great-lockdown-worst-economic-downturn-since-the-great-depression/
Author - https://blogs.imf.org/bloggers/gita-gopinath/