"The human costs of the coronavirus pandemic are already immeasurable and all countries need to work together to protect people and limit the economic damage," Georgieva said. Georgieva said the outlook for global growth was negative and the IMF now expected "a recession at least as bad as during the global financial crisis or worse." Trade wars pushed global growth last year to the lowest rate since a 0.7% contraction in 2009. On Monday Georgieva said a recovery was expected in 2021, but to reach it countries would need to prioritise containment and strengthen health systems. IMF members also needed to provide additional swap lines with emerging market countries to address a global liquidity crunch, she said.

Source: bd News24 March 23, 2020 18:22 UTC