By Cecile Daurat / BloombergAn interconnected global economy is feeling the strain of China’s 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak — and the potential US$160 billion hit in lost growth that could be on the way. In the Middle East, Saudi Arabia is rallying support for an emergency OPEC meeting on concern demand for oil would falter. Since China’s last global health crisis, the SARS outbreak of 2002 and 2003, its share of global economic output has quadrupled to about 17 percent. China so far has absorbed most of the economic shock from the coronavirus outbreak. China’s essential role in the global supply chain means business owners and executives around the world are being forced to contemplate what would happen in a prolonged crisis.

Source: Taipei Times February 04, 2020 15:56 UTC