People wait at a testing site during the coronavirus pandemic, Thursday, July 16, in Opa-locka, in the southern US state of Florida. The grim forecast is actually an upgrade from one the IMF made last month when it foresaw the American economy contracting 8 percent in 2020. The IMF now expects the U.S. economy to rebound to 3.9 percent growth next year. But the unemployment rate (11.1 percent in June) will remain elevated, the IMF said, averaging 7.4 percent the last three months of 2021. In February, before the pandemic spread rapidly in the United States, unemployment was near historic lows at 3.5 percent.-AP

Source: The Standard July 18, 2020 07:41 UTC