Anchor: The International Monetary Fund says it could further downgrade its global economic outlook for the year noting the unprecedented crisis triggered by the coronavirus pandemic. In the same vein, the US Federal Reserve Chair said there is much uncertainty in the US economy.
Park Jong-hong has this report.

Report: The International Monetary Fund is painting the bleakest outlook yet for the global economy.

In a blog post on Tuesday, IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath said in 2020, both advanced and emerging market economies will be in recession for the first time since the Great Depression.

She also said the forthcoming June World Economic Outlook Update is likely to show negative growth rates even worse than those previously estimated. Back in April, the IMF forecast a contraction of three percent for the world economy.

The fund also said the current crisis, which it dubbed the Great Lockdown, is “unlike anything the world has seen before.”

Also reflecting this grim outlook, US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Tuesday that the economy under the pandemic has continued to cause pain for American citizens despite signs of some stabilization.

Speaking before a Senate committee, Powell said there is much uncertainty and the US has a long way to go to reach full recovery.

[Soundbite: Jerome Powell, Federal Reserve Chair]
"Much of that uncertainty comes from uncertainty about the path of the disease and the effective measures to contain it."

He stressed that businesses are the core of the economy and that every means of support should be made to generate their robust recovery.

[Soundbite: Jerome Powell, Federal Reserve Chair]
"If a small or medium-sized business becomes insolvent because the economy recovers too slowly, we lose more than just that business.”

Powell noted that while some indicators are showing a modest rebound, production and employment are still a far cry from before the virus outbreak.
Park Jong-hong, KBS World Radio News.