The World Bank on Monday warned that the coronavirus pandemic is expected to sharply slow growth in developing economies in East Asia and ...
The World Bank on Monday warned that the coronavirus pandemic is expected to sharply slow growth in developing economies in East Asia and the Pacific as well as China, reported AFP. The bank added that the disease will drive millions into poverty.
The coronavirus is causing “an unprecedented global shock, which could bring growth to a halt and could increase poverty across the region,” said Aaditya Mattoo, World Bank chief economist for East Asia and the Pacific.
The bank said precise growth forecasts were difficult, given the rapidly changing situation, but its baseline now called for growth in developing economies in the region to slow to 2.1% in 2020, and to -0.5% in a worse-case scenario, compared to estimated growth of 5.8% in 2019, according to AP.
In China, where the coronavirus outbreak originated late last year, growth was projected to slow to 2.3% in the baseline scenario, or as low as 0.1% in the lower-case scenario, compared to growth of 6.1% in 2019. It added that the country may escape a recession but will nonetheless suffer a sharp slowdown.
In an updated forecast released on Monday, the World Bank urged countries in the region to invest in healthcare capacity and to follow Korea’s example to ramp up testing and containment...
