Page 91 - Mariners Cricket Club (Singapore) - Souvenir Magazine 2020

Present and Future Economy

COVID-19 has no doubt devastated our world economy. We are still steeped in the effects
of COVID-19, and economists predict that global GDP will contract by 5.2% this year,
leading to the worst recession that many countries have seen in decades.

Even prior to the pandemic, our global economy was already headed for another recession.
COVID-19 safety measures such as lockdowns and travel restrictions have stifl ed economic
activity, leading to recessions across both advanced and emerging markets.

However, experts acknowledge that global recovery has been faster than expected. Decline
in world GDP in 2020 has been revised from –4.6% to a more optimistic level of -4.4%.
But as COVID-19 persists, recovery of the global economy is still anticipated to be slow.
Economic activity will likely not return to pre-COVID-19 levels until 2021 or 2022, though
some countries may seem faster recovery than others.

Aside from macro-economic effects on output, unemployment is also soaring. Data
shows that working hours decreased by 14% during the second quarter of 2020, which
is equivalent to losing 400 million full-time jobs. 93% of the world’s workers live in areas
with some degree of workplace closure measures. Women have been disproportionately
affected, which may exacerbate workplace gender inequalities and have lasting effects on
the labor market.
Although recovery from the effects of COVID-19 is forecasted to be gradual, we can hold
out hope that economies will eventually adapt to the new normal. In fact, projections
show that we can expect economic growth of 5.4% in 2021.

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