Global downturn due to coronavirus 'way worse' than global financial crisis -IMF

by Reuters
Friday, 3 April 2020 19:39 GMT

By Andrea Shalal and Stephanie Nebehay
WASHINGTON/GENEVA, April 3 (Reuters) - The coronavirus pandemic has brought the global economy to a standstill and plunged the world into a recession that will be "way worse" than the global financial crisis a decade ago, the head of the International Monetary Fund said on Friday.
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, speaking at a rare joint news conference with the leader of the World Health Organization, called on advanced economies to step up their efforts to help emerging markets and developing countries survive the economic and health impact of the pandemic.
"This is a crisis like no other," she told some 400 reporters on a video conference call. "We have witnessed the world economy coming to a standstill. We are now in recession. It is way worse than the global financial crisis" of 2008-2009.
More than 1 million people have been infected with COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, and more than 53,000 have died, a Reuters tally showed on Friday.
Georgieva that the IMF was working with the World Bank and WHO to advance their call for China and other official bilateral creditors to suspend debt collections from the poorest countries for at least a year until the pandemic subsides.
https://news.trust.org/item/20200403190017-t8vw4