“The global economy was facing the worst collapse since the second world war as coronavirus began to strike in March, well before the height of the crisis, according to the latest Brookings-FT tracking index.
“The index comes as the IMF prepares to hold virtual spring meetings this week, when it will release forecasts showing the deepest contraction for the global economy since the 1930s great depression.
“With confidence indicators falling off a cliff, financial markets in turmoil and real economic indicators plunging, bankruptcies and job losses will leave deep scars on the world economy and hinder its healing for a long time to come, the data suggest…
“With no country immune from the Covid-19 crisis, a recovery once the lockdowns have been eased is likely to be slower than hoped, said Professor Eswar Prasad of the Brookings Institution, who railed at the lack of a co-ordinated policy response from governments…
“…emerging economies have to deal not only with a health and economic crisis, but also with capital flight worse than in the 2008-09 global financial crisis and a sudden slump in demand for their exports.
“The Tiger index’s gloomy reading is in line with other economic indices and forecasts, which increasingly point to the most difficult moment for the global economy in almost a century.
“Prof Prasad [said], “Demand has been ravaged, there are extensive disruptions to manufacturing supply chains, and a financial crisis is unfolding simultaneously,” he said.
““Unlike the 2008-09 crisis that was triggered by liquidity shortages in financial markets, the crisis now unfolding involves more fundamental solvency issues for many firms and industries beyond finance.”
“…the outlook could still get worse if the pandemic continued to spread around the world.”
https://www.ft.com/content/9ac5eb8e-4167-4a54-9b39-dab48c29ac6c
“Historic” oil deal totally insufficient for re-balancing supply and demand:
“Goldman Sachs Group Inc. called the cuts “too little and too late,” saying they’d only lead to an actual reduction of about 4.3 million barrels a day from first quarter levels.
“”Ultimately, this simply reflects that no voluntary cuts could be large enough to offset the 19 million barrels a day average April-May demand loss due to the coronavirus,” the bank’s analysts wrote in a report.”
