World economy will struggle to bounce back from Covid-19 lockdowns: Reports

While growth in the hardest hit economies may snap back briefly, the momentum will soon fade, a financial research firm warned.

The world economy likely faces a long slog back from the coronavirus crisis as two reports out on Monday predict that global growth will struggle to bounce back from the lockdowns, travel restrictions and business closures meant to contain the pandemic.
IHS Markit said that it expects the world economy to shrink 5.5 per cent this year, triple the damage it sustained in the 2008 financial crisis, and then struggle to regain traction, news agency PTI reported.

While growth in the hardest hit economies may snap back briefly, the momentum will soon fade, the financial research firm warned. It expects the US economy to contract 7.3 per cent this year and the collective economy of the 19 European countries that share the euro currency to recoil 8.6 per cent.

Hobbling the rebound, IHS predicts, will be a wave of business bankruptcies and cautious spending by consumers trying to repair their household finances and uneasy about resuming old habits that drive economic growth shopping, eating out, booking vacations and going to movies.

Government leaders wanted to err on the side of caution, and, as a result, we basically shut down large parts of the economy, said Sara Johnson, executive director at IHS Markit.

Likewise, Deutsche Bank Wealth Management warned Monday that a hoped-for rebound in the second half of 2020 won't be strong enough to undo the damage absorbed in the first, at least among the advanced economies of the United States, Europe and Japan. "We don't expect developed economies output to be back to pre-crisis levels until 2022,'' the report said.