The global economy will contract 4.3 percent this year due to the Covid-19 crisis, while a viable vaccine will not halt the spread of the economic damage, said the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
“The Covid-19 pandemic has gravely wounded the world economy with serious consequences impacting all communities and individuals,” said UNCTAD Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi.
“Moving rapidly across borders, along the principal arteries of the global economy, the spread of the virus has benefited from the underlying interconnectedness – and frailties – of globalization, catapulting a global health crisis into a global economic shock that has hit the most vulnerable the hardest.”
While developed economies are expected to be more affected in 2020 than developing countries, with their gross domestic product contracting 5.8 percent versus 2.1 percent, UNCTAD said the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 will be derailed unless immediate policy actions are taken.
In 1990, the global poverty rate was 35.9 percent before falling to 8.6 percent by 2018. However, it has inched up to 8.8 percent this year and will likely rise throughout 2021. “Millions of jobs have already been lost, millions of livelihoods are at risk, and an estimated additional 130 million people will be living in extreme poverty if the crisis persists,” UNCTAD said.
RHM/PR