The global economy will contract by 3% this year as countries around the world shrink at the fastest pace in decades, the International Monetary Fund says. The IMF described the global decline as the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

It said the pandemic had plunged the world into a “crisis like no other”. The Fund added that a prolonged outbreak would test the ability of governments and central banks to control the crisis. Gita Gopinath, the IMF’s chief economist, said the crisis could knock $9 trillion (£7.2 trillion) off global GDP over the next two years.

While the Fund’s latest World Economic Outlook praised the “swift and sizeable” response in countries like the UK, Germany, Japan and the US, it said no country would escape the downturn. It expects global growth to rebound to 5.8% next year if the pandemic fades in the second half of 2020.(BBC)…[+]