Devastating effect of coronavirus crisis

The devastating effect of the coronavirus crisis will cause a dramatic economic decline in the world, which is estimated at around 12 thousand billion dollars this year and the next, said director of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva.

That is equal to the value higher than the one-year gross domestic product of the Eurozone, Georgieva said at the online conference „Infrastructure, Investments and Central Europe: 3 Seas Initiative (3SI)“, organized by the Atlantic Council.

She pointed out that, although, at the moment, the Fund estimated the global 2020 economic outlook as somewhat less gloomy than a few months ago due to better results of some advanced economies than expected, primarily China, there would be no growth this year.

For the countries of Central, Eastern and Southeast Europe (CEE), the pandemic means erasing the progress made in the last three years, when the region achieved the best results in this decade in terms of economic growth, strengthening competitiveness and improving governance, Georgieva said.

According to her, the region recorded an average growth of three percent in terms of real income, which affected the reduction of the gap between CEE and the 15 western EU members.

She added that per capita income in the CEE region reached about 55 percent of per capita income in 15 western EU countries.

Izvor: RTS

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