UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The United Nations forecast Wednesday that the COVID-19 pandemic will shrink the world economy by 3.2% this year, the sharpest contraction since the Great Depression in the 1930s.
The U.N.’s mid-year report said the novel coronavirus is expected to slash global economic output by nearly $8.5 trillion over the next two years, wiping out nearly all gains of the last four years.
In January, before COVID-19 became a pandemic, the U.N. had forecast a modest acceleration in growth of 2.5% in 2020. RELATED: CoronavirusNOW.com, FOX launches national hub for COVID-19 news and updates But U.N.
chief economist Elliott Harris told a news conference launching the report that the global economic outlook “has changed drastically"