The crisis triggered by the COVID pandemic will lead to a global production decline of $22 trillion over five years, Report informs referring to Gita Gopinath, chief economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Because of the partial nature of the rebound, over 150 economies are expected to have per-capita incomes below their 2019 levels in 2021. That number declines only modestly to around 110 economies in 2022. At $22 trillion, the projected cumulative output loss over 2020–2025 relative to the pre-pandemic projected levels remains substantial, Gopinath said at a press conference.
In its latest World Economic Outlook forecast, the IMF projects global growth for 2021 at 5.5 percent, 0.3 percentage point higher than the October forecast, moderating to 4.2 percent in 2022.
Last year, according to the fund’s analysts, the world economy contracted by 3.5 percent.