Yesterday, Economists at the International Monetary Fund now expect a global recession this year as a result of the coronavirus that could be worse than during the global financial crisis.

Georgieva issued the new outlook after a conference call of finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 of the world’s largest economies, who she said agreed on the need for solidarity across the globe. She added that the coronavirus pandemic will cause a global recession in 2020 that could be worse than the one triggered by the global financial crisis of 2008-09 but world economic output should recover in 2021.

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva welcomed extraordinary fiscal actions already taken by many countries to boost health systems and protect affected companies and workers, and steps taken by central banks to ease monetary policy. “Even more will be needed, especially on the fiscal front,” she said.

“The human costs of the coronavirus pandemic are already immeasurable and all countries need to work together to protect people and limit the economic damage,”  IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said.

Georgieva said a recovery was expected in 2021, but to reach it countries would need to prioritize containment and strengthen health systems. “The economic impact is and will be severe, but the faster the virus stops, the quicker and stronger the recovery will be,” she said.

Georgieva said the IMF would massively step up emergency finance, noting that 80 countries have already requested help and that the IMF stood ready to deploy all of its $1 trillion in lending capacity. moreover, The IMF called again on members to contribute funds to replenish its Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust to help the poorest countries.