Question

how did COVID-19 impact the global GDP? 150-200 word essay

Answer 1

The corona virus that started spreading in China slowly spread all over the world and this pandemic has made huge changes in economy of all the countries affected.

When the virus started spreading, majority of countries decided to declare an overall lockdown as the solution to cease the spread of virus. During these lockdowns, people were forced to sit at home, no businesses or trade or services were working. Thus it created a void in the economic activities of countries.

According to IMF(International Monetary Fund), the global economy is expected to fall by over 3 percent in 2020. This is the steepest this rate has gone since the Great Depression of 1930s. Now 3% won't seem much, so to put the number in perspective by taking an example, Global GDP of 2019 was nearly 86.6 million US dollars, which means even a 0.4% drop results to a loss of 3.5 trillion US dollars.

Now as the restrictions are being lifted, businesses have started working again, but the pandemic has created a huge instability in world business now and it will take much time to normalise. The Corona virus has put the world into a recession. Reports say that in April 2020, nearly 20.5 million people have filed for unemployment benefits in USA only. Though governments are coming up with various support packages, there is still a big percent of population who are struggling to get back on their feet.