The New York Times reported on Tuesday that the damage to the world’s major economies from coronavirus lockdowns is more than four times more severe than that of the 2009 global financial crisis, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
The O.E.C.D. said the severe restrictions have resulted in an “unprecedented” blow to growth in the second quarter in almost every country except China, where the virus was first detected.
Growth in the nations that are part of the Group of 20 (representing 80 percent of the world’s economic production) fell by a record 6.9 percent from April to June compared with the previous three months. In 2009, the drop in the same period was 1.9 percent.
The O.E.C.D. warned that the global economy will fare far worse should a second wave of virus outbreaks lead governments to renew wide-scale quarantines.
Details: The biggest declines were in India (minus 25.2 percent) and Britain (minus 20.4 percent). Growth in the U.S. shrank by more than 9 percent, and in the eurozone by nearly 15 percent. China was the only economy to bounce back, expanding at a rate of 11.5 percent.
