A new report from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects China to be the only major economy to achieve growth in 2020 amidst the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The latest World Economic Outlook Report released by the IMF on 13 October forecasts that the global economy will see a contraction of 4.4% in 2020, as major nations continue to grapple with the spread of the novel coronavirus.
China is the only major economy expected to post growth, with IMF forecasting an increase of 1.9% in 2020, for an upward adjustment of 0.9 percentage points compared to the June forecast. The IMF also expects the Chinese economy to see growth of 8.2% in 2021.
Developed economies are expected by shrink 5.8% in 2020, with the US contracting 4.3%, the Eurozone seeing a decline of 8.3% and Japan diminishing 5.3%.
The IMF expects developing economies to shrink 3.3% in 2020, with the Indian economy contracting by 10.3%.
According to the report the slump created by the COVID-19 pandemic has caused major damage to the global economy, and recovery will be lengthy and precarious.
The IMF nonetheless forecasts global economic growth of 5.2% in 2021, for a slight downward adjustment of 0.2 percentage points compared to its June outlook.
