The world is facing the worst crisis in almost a century because of the coronavirus

The worst crisis in almost a century is looming over the world as a result of the coronavirus, which, in addition to 1.8 million infected and more than 117,000 dead, seriously threatens the stability of the financial system. This is the warning of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which considers it "very likely" that the global economy will experience the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s and surpass the global financial crisis of a decade ago.

The IMF estimates are very pessimistic: the world economy will fall by 3% this year, hampered by the 5.9% drop in GDP in the United States, 7.5% in the euro area and 5.2% in Japan.

Except for the downward growth in China, with 1.2% this year, and India, with 1.9%, due to "the Great Closing" - as the IMF has called the crisis in the making due to confinement and mobility restrictions in the face of the coronavirus - the rest of the planet will see its GDP collapse, for example, by 6.5% in the case of the United Kingdom, 5.5% in Russia, 5.8% in South Africa or 2.3% in Saudi Arabia.
 

According to IMF projections, which foresee a gradual recovery starting in the second half of the year with an estimated global growth of 5.8%, the Spanish economy will fall by 8% in 2020 and the unemployment rate will rise by six points to 20.8%.

Latin America and the Caribbean's economy will also shrink by 5.2% this year, with Mexico and Ecuador being the most affected (with drops of 6.6% and 6.3%, respectively) by the impact of the health crisis, a deeper decline than at the global level due to the high level of informality in the Latin American economy.

As for the United States, Goldman Sachs Bank forecasts a crisis up to four times worse than in 2008, with a drop in GDP in the second quarter of 11%, and unemployment figures similar to those recorded during the Second World War, with a rate of up to 15%, although it does not rule out an unprecedented economic recovery.

In addition, global airlines could lose $314 billion in passenger revenue this year, a drop of 55% from 2019, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
 

Meanwhile, science continues relentlessly to search for drugs and vaccines against the coronavirus. 

China, the source of the pandemic, has begun human clinical trials of two possible vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which causes COVID-19 disease. These are two inactivated vaccines, i.e. consisting of microorganisms that have been destroyed by physical or chemical processes. U.S. scientists are also working to find a drug, among those already in existence, that blocks an enzyme that helps the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus multiply in the human body.