WORLDVIEW: Life after Covid-19 – Lessons from the Great Depression

The numbers are in – the Covid-19 Depression is going to be the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. It's time to learn from the past.
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The numbers are in – the Covid-19 Depression is going to be the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

Already, the International Labour Organisation estimates that job losses around the world amount to the equivalent of 305 million full-time jobs. The IMF is predicting that the global economy will shrink by 3% this year, more than four times the 0.7% contraction recorded in 2009 and the worst fall since the Great Depression.

While many hope that the economic situation will turn around once lockdowns are lifted, early evidence from China suggests that recovery will be a slow and uncertain process. Battered consumers are unwilling to spend and frightened businesses are holding off on investment – in the EU, business borrowing for investment fell 15% in the first quarter. The longer the downturn lasts, the more lost jobs, shuttered businesses, and bad loans we will see.

___STEADY_PAYWALL___

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