Abstract

Since the COVID-19 diagnosed as a pandemic, it has spread to over 200 countries and all U.S. states. The pandemic is negatively effecting global economic growth beyond anything experienced in nearly a century. Estimates so far indicate the virus could trim global economic growth by %3 to % 6 in 2020. The economic fallout from the pandemic raises the risks of a global economic recession with levels of unemployment not experienced since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The human costs in terms of lives lost will permanently effect global economic growth in addition to the cost of rising levels of poverty, lives upended, careers derailed, and increased social unrest. Global trade could also fall by 13% to 32%, depending on the depth and extent of the global economic downturn, exacting an especially heavy economic toll on trade-dependent developing and emerging economies. The full impact will not be known until the effects of the pandemic peak.