Cost of pandemic could reach $28trn, IMF warns

Worst crisis since Great Recession

clock • 2 min read

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is forecasting a less severe global recession than in June but has warned the cost of the pandemic could be as high as $28trn.

Gita Gopinath, the IMF's chief economist, described the coronavirus pandemic as the worst crisis as the worst seen since the Great Depression. "This crisis will likely leave scars well into the medium term as labour markets take time to heal, investment is held back by uncertainty and balance sheet problems, and lost schooling impairs human capital," she said. "It will take significant innovation on the policy front, at both the national and international levels to recover from this calamity." The IMF said in its World Economic Outlook that a stronger-than-expected second-quarter m...

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