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COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
has had far-reaching economic consequences including the COVID-19 recession, the second largest global recession in recent history, decreased business in the services sector during the
COVID-19 lockdowns Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of non-pharmaceutical interventions colloquially known as lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar societal restrictions) have been implemented in numerous countri ...
, the
2020 stock market crash On 20 February 2020, stock markets across the world suddenly crashed after growing instability due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It ended on 7 April 2020. Beginning on 13 May 2019, the yield curve on U.S. Treasury securities inverted, and rem ...
, which included the largest single-week
stock market A stock market, equity market, or share market is the aggregation of buyers and sellers of stocks (also called shares), which represent ownership claims on businesses; these may include ''securities'' listed on a public stock exchange, ...
decline since the
financial crisis of 2007–2008 Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of ...
and the impact of COVID-19 on financial markets, the
2021–2022 global supply chain crisis In 2021, as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, global supply chains and shipments slowed, causing worldwide shortages and affecting consumer patterns. Causes of the economic slowdown included workers becoming sick with COVID-19 as well ...
, the
2021–2022 inflation surge The 2021–2022 inflation surge is the higher-than-average economic inflation throughout much of the world that began in early 2021. It has been attributed to the 2021 global supply chain crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and unexpecte ...
,
shortages related to the COVID-19 pandemic In economics, a shortage or excess demand is a situation in which the demand for a product or service exceeds its supply in a market. It is the opposite of an excess supply (surplus). Definitions In a perfect market (one that matches ...
including the 2020–present global chip shortage,
panic buying Panic buying (alternatively hyphenated as panic-buying; also known as panic purchasing) occurs when consumers buy unusually large amounts of a product in anticipation of, or after, a disaster or perceived disaster, or in anticipation of a large ...
, and price gouging. It led to governments providing an unprecedented amount of stimulus. The pandemic was also a factor in the 2021–2022 global energy crisis and
2022 food crises 2022 saw a rapid increase in food prices and shortages of food supplies around the world. The compounding crises in distinct parts of the world were caused by compounding geopolitical and economic crisis. The crises followed food securit ...
. Possible instability generated by an outbreak and associated behavioural changes could result in temporary food shortages, price spikes, and disruption to markets. Such price rises would be felt most by vulnerable populations who depend on markets for their food as well as those already depending on humanitarian assistance to maintain their livelihoods and food access. As observed in the 2007–2008 world food price crisis, the additional inflationary effect of protectionist policies through import tariffs and export bans could cause a significant increase in the number of people facing severe food insecurity worldwide. Many fashion, sport, and technology events have been canceled or have changed to be online. While the monetary impact on the travel and trade industry is yet to be estimated, it is likely to be in the billions and increasing. Amidst the recovery and containment, the world economic system is characterized as experiencing significant, broad uncertainty. Economic forecasts and consensus among
macroeconomics Macroeconomics (from the Greek prefix ''makro-'' meaning "large" + ''economics'') is a branch of economics dealing with performance, structure, behavior, and decision-making of an economy as a whole. For example, using interest rates, taxes, and ...
experts show significant disagreement on the overall extent, long-term effects and projected recovery. Risk assessments and contingency plans therefore must be taken with a grain of salt, given that there is a wide divergence of opinion. A large general increase in prices was also attributed to the pandemic. In part, the record-high energy prices were driven by a global surge in demand as the world quit the economic recession caused by COVID-19, particularly due to strong energy demand in Asia. The COVID-19 crisis affected worldwide economic activity, resulting in a 7% drop in global commercial commerce in 2020. While GVCs have persisted, several demand and supply mismatches caused by the pandemic have resurfaced throughout the recovery period in 2021 and 2022 and have been spread internationally through trade. During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses lost 25% of their revenue and 11% of their workforce, with contact-intensive sectors and
SMEs Superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) systems store energy in the magnetic field created by the flow of direct current in a superconducting coil which has been cryogenically cooled to a temperature below its superconducting critical ...
being particularly heavily impacted. However, considerable policy assistance helped to avert large-scale bankruptcies, with just 4% of enterprises declaring for
insolvency In accounting, insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the debts, by a person or company ( debtor), at maturity; those in a state of insolvency are said to be ''insolvent''. There are two forms: cash-flow insolvency and balance-shee ...
or permanently shutting at the time of the COVID wave.


Background

The initial outbreak of the pandemic in China coincided with the Chunyun, a major travel season associated with the
Chinese New Year Chinese New Year is the festival that celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional lunisolar and solar Chinese calendar. In Chinese and other East Asian cultures, the festival is commonly referred to as the Spring Festival () a ...
holiday. A number of events involving large crowds were cancelled by national and regional governments, including annual New Year festivals, with private companies also independently closing their shops and tourist attractions such as
Hong Kong Disneyland Hong Kong Disneyland () (local nickname ''HKDL''; also known as HK Disneyland) is a theme park located on reclaimed land in Penny's Bay, Lantau Island. It is located inside the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort and it is owned and managed by Hong Ko ...
and Shanghai Disneyland. Many
Lunar New Year Lunar New Year is the beginning of a calendar year whose months are Lunar phase, moon cycles, based on the lunar calendar or lunisolar calendar. The Lunar New Year as a celebration is observed by numerous cultures. It is also named "Chinese New ...
events and tourist attractions were closed to prevent mass gatherings, including the
Forbidden City The Forbidden City () is a palace complex in Dongcheng District, Beijing, China, at the center of the Imperial City of Beijing. It is surrounded by numerous opulent imperial gardens and temples including the Zhongshan Park, the sacrifi ...
in Beijing and traditional temple fairs. In 24 of China's 31 provinces, municipalities and regions, authorities extended the New Year's holiday to 10 February, instructing most workplaces not to re-open until that date. These regions represented 80% of the country's GDP and 90% of exports. Hong Kong raised its infectious disease response level to the highest and declared an emergency, closing schools until March and cancelling its New Year celebrations. The demand for personal protection equipment has risen 100-fold, according to WHO director-general
Tedros Adhanom Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus ( ti, ቴዎድሮስ አድሓኖም ገብረኢየሱስ, sometimes spelt ti, ቴድሮስ ኣድሓኖም ገብረየሱስ, label=none; born 3 March 1965) is an Ethiopian public health official, researcher, and ...
. This demand has led to an increase in prices of up to twenty times the normal price and also induced delays on the supply of medical items for four to six months.


Overall economic contraction

The COVID-19 recession is an
economic recession In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction when there is a general decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be triggered by variou ...
happening across the
world economy The world economy or global economy is the economy of all humans of the world, referring to the global economic system, which includes all economic activities which are conducted both within and between nations, including production, consumptio ...
in 2020 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
. Global stock markets experienced their worst crash since 1987, and in the first three months of 2020 the G20 economies fell 3.4% year-on-year. Between April and June 2020, the
International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and o ...
estimated that an equivalent of 400 million full-time jobs were lost across the world, and income earned by workers globally fell 10 percent in the first nine months of 2020, equivalent to a loss of over US$3.5 trillion. Cambridge University put the cost to the global economy at $82 trillion over five years. When the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
hit Europe, much of Europe's investment had been high, but it had unexpectedly slowed. In 2019, overall investment in the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...
increased by about 3% over the previous year, surpassing growth in real GDP. Investment, like other economic activity, fell drastically as a direct result of lockdown restrictions. This effect was particularly noticeable in the second quarter of 2020, when investment decreased 19% year on year, as most limitations were relaxed by the summer. In 2019, firms already had an unfavorable assessment of the economic situation. Overall expectations for sector-specific business prospects, as well as the availability of internal and external funding, deteriorated in the course of 2020. In the
European Investment Bank The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the European Union's investment bank and is owned by the EU Member States. It is one of the largest supranational lenders in the world. The EIB finances and invests both through equity and debt solution ...
Investment report 2020–21, 81% of the respondents cited uncertainty as the most severe obstacle to investment. 20% of EU companies anticipate a permanent loss in employment, indicating that a sizable proportion of firms are pessimistic about their capacity to "bounce back" once the COVID-19 crisis has passed. As a result of the pandemic, half of European companies anticipate an increase in the usage of digital technologies in the future. The proportion is considerably greater among companies that have previously used digital technology. The European Union's public debt is expected to exceed 95% of GDP by the end of 2021, a 15 percentage point rise since the pandemic began in 2019. From the first to the second quarter of 2020, the EU government debt grew by 8.4 percentage points to 88% of GDP. According to the
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...
, debt to GDP reached 94% by the end of 2020. In autumn 2020, a second wave of infection and lockdowns aggravated the problem. After one year of the COVID-19 crisis, corporate investment was expected to decline by at least 25%. The
International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster glo ...
(IMF) and other organizations predicted that the European Union's GDP would contract by 6% to 8%, a drop unprecedented since the Great Depression. The
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...
's total real GDP fall was more than 11% compared to the first quarter of 2020, the biggest drop in a single quarter on record. The reduction in GDP was caused by government attempts to restrict the virus's spread, and it varied greatly between
Member States A member state is a state that is a member of an international organization or of a federation or confederation. Since the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) include some members that are not sovereign s ...
. It was weakest, on average, in
Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known a ...
and Eastern Europe, where
real GDP Real gross domestic product (real GDP) is a macroeconomic measure of the value of economic output adjusted for price changes (i.e. inflation or deflation). This adjustment transforms the money-value measure, nominal GDP, into an index for quantity ...
decreased 9.7% in the second quarter compared to the first. It decreased by 11.5% in Western and Northern Europe, and by roughly 15% in Southern Europe. In comparison, real GDP in the United States fell by nearly 9% in the second quarter compared to the first quarter. In the second quarter of 2020, disposable income per capita decreased dramatically, affecting consumer expenditure, particularly for lower-income families. The impact of the COVID-19 varied greatly on the industry. Sectors that rely heavily on physical presence, including passenger transportation, the arts, entertainment, tourism, and hospitality, were impacted the worst, with declines of up to 30% in the second quarter of 2020 compared to the first quarter. Industries such as agriculture, banking, and real estate, declined by 3% or less during the same time span. During the global financial crisis, the distribution of economic effect across sectors was extremely varied, with EU manufacturing suffering the worst decrease – over 20% in the first quarter of 2009. The decrease in other sectors was relatively limited, at around or below 6%. GDP per hour in the EU grew by 0.3 percent in the second quarter of 2020 compared to the same time in 2019, while GDP per employee decreased 11.5%. Access to capital is seen as a barrier by about 55% of businesses. Credit limitations are especially difficult for SMEs and new businesses to overcome. Credit constraints affect 24% of SMEs and 27% of young businesses. In Western and Northern Europe, as well as Central and Eastern Europe, the unemployment rate climbed by roughly 0.5 percentage point. The rise was greater in Southern Europe (1.5 percentage points). The United States increased by 4 percentage points during the same period, reaching a high of 10 percentage points in April in 2021.


Economic recovery programmes

Nations, cities and other collectives with governance mechanisms worldwide have announced the development and implementation of programmes for guided economic recovery. Some economic recovery programmes include Next Generation EU and
Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme The European Central Bank (ECB) is the prime component of the monetary Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's most important central b ...
. A study published in August 2020 concluded that the direct effect of the response to the pandemic on global warming will likely be negligible and that a well-designed economic recovery could avoid future warming of 0.3 °C by 2050. The study indicates that systemic change for decarbonization of humanity's economic structures is required for a substantial impact on global warming, which also has economic aspects. Beyond targeted financing of green projects or sectors, contemporary decision-making mechanisms also allow for excluding projects with substantial environmental, social, or climate risks from financial relief. Over 260 civil society organizations called on Chinese actors to ensure that COVID-19 related
Belt and Road Initiative The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI, or B&R), formerly known as One Belt One Road ( zh, link=no, 一带一路) or OBOR for short, is a global infrastructure development strategy adopted by the Chinese government in 2013 to invest in nearly 1 ...
funding excludes such projects. In November 2020 the IMF said that governments and central banks had promised $19.5 trillion of support since the coronavirus began. The
United Nations Environment Programme The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the United Nations Conference on ...
analyzed $14.6 trillion of global spending in 2020, and found that only 2.5% was directed towards tackling climate change, advising governments to "make use of recovery spending to steer away from the worst impacts of climate change and inequality". A 2022 analysis of G20 country spending found that about 6% of their pandemic recovery spending has been allocated to areas that will also cut greenhouse-gas emissions, including electrifying vehicles, making buildings more energy efficient and installing renewables.


Population growth

COVID-19 increased mortality around the world, with the UN estimating that there were 15 million deaths due to COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021. This estimate was broadly in line with other estimates of 14.9 million from
World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level o ...
and 17.6 million from
The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Eco ...
. While COVID-19 increased mortality in general, different countries experienced dramatically different impacts on birth rate. Birth rates in the US declined, whereas Germany's reached an all-time monthly high. Some in China had initially thought that their COVID-19 lockdowns would boost birth rate, but that prediction was proven wrong. US population growth fell to a record low of 0.1%. In Australia, overall population growth slowed dramatically due to decreased migration, however, births did not appear to be impacted dramatically.


Agriculture and food


2022 food crisis


Financial markets

Economic turmoil associated with the coronavirus pandemic has wide-ranging and severe impacts upon
financial market A financial market is a market in which people trade financial securities and derivatives at low transaction costs. Some of the securities include stocks and bonds, raw materials and precious metals, which are known in the financial ma ...
s, including stock, bond and commodity (including crude oil and gold) markets. Major events included the Russia–Saudi Arabia oil price war that resulted in a collapse of crude oil prices and a stock market crash in March 2020. The
United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...
expects a US$220 billion reduction in revenue in developing countries, and expects COVID-19's economic impact to last for months or even years. Some expect natural gas prices to fall. During the early phase of COVID in April and May, there was a significant correlation between the extent of the outbreak and volatility in financial and stock markets. The broader effects of this volatility impacted credit markets, and save for government interventions and central banks pursuing quantitative easing, would have led to more significant economic downturns.


Manufacturing

See also 2020–2022 global chip shortage.


2021 Car production crisis

New vehicle sales in the United States have declined by 40%. The American Big Three have all shut down their US factories. The German automotive industry came into the crisis after having already suffered from the
Dieselgate The Volkswagen emissions scandal, sometimes known as Dieselgate or Emissionsgate, began in September 2015, when the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a notice of violation of the Clean Air Act to German automaker Vol ...
-scandal, as well as competition from
electric car An electric car, battery electric car, or all-electric car is an automobile that is propelled by one or more electric motors, using only energy stored in batteries. Compared to internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, electric cars are quiet ...
s.
Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and ...
and
Airbus Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft throughout the world. The company has three divisions: '' ...
suspended production at some factories. A survey conducted by the British Plastics Federation (BPF) explored how COVID-19 is impacting manufacturing businesses in the United Kingdom (UK). Over 80% of respondents anticipated a decline in turnover over the next 2 quarters, with 98% admitting concern about the negative impact of the pandemic on business operations. In July 2021, car production in the United Kingdom hit lowest level since 1956.


The arts, entertainment and sport

The epidemic had a sudden and substantial impact on the arts and cultural heritage ( GLAM) sectors worldwide. The global health crisis and the uncertainty resulting from it profoundly affected organisations' operations as well as individuals – both employed and independent – across the sector. By March 2020, across the world most cultural institutions had been indefinitely closed (or at least with their services radically curtailed) exhibitions, events and performances cancelled or postponed. Many individuals temporarily or permanently lost contracts or employment with varying degrees of warning and financial assistance available. Equally, financial stimulus from governments and charities for artists, have provided greatly differing levels of support, depending on the sector and the country. In countries such as Australia, where the arts contributed to about 6.4% of GDP, effects on individuals and the economy have been significant.


Cinema

The pandemic has impacted the film industry. Across the world and to varying degrees, cinemas have been closed, festivals have been cancelled or postponed, and film releases have been moved to future dates. As cinemas closed, the global box office dropped by billions of dollars, while streaming became more popular and the
stock In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a compan ...
of
Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...
rose; the stock of
film exhibitor A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall (Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...
s dropped dramatically. Almost all blockbusters to be released after the March opening weekend were postponed or cancelled around the world, with film productions also halted. Massive losses in the industry have been predicted.


Sport

Most major sporting events were cancelled or postponed, including the
2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...
in Tokyo, which were postponed on 24 March 2020 until 2021.


Television

The COVID-19 pandemic has shut down or delayed production of television programs in several countries. However, a joint report from Apptopia and Braze showed a 30.7% increase in streaming sessions worldwide on platforms such as
Disney+ Disney+ is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned and operated by the Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. The service primarily distributes films and television se ...
,
Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...
, and
Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television series ...
during the month of March.


Video games

The pandemic also affected the video game sector to a smaller degree. As the outbreak appeared in China first, supply chains affected the manufacturing and production of some video game consoles, delaying their releases and making current supplies scarcer. As the outbreak and pandemic spread, several keystone trade events, including
E3 2020 The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2020 (E3 2020) would have been the 26th E3, during which hardware manufacturers, software developers, and publishers from the video game industry would have presented new and upcoming products. The event, organ ...
, were cancelled over concerns of further spread. The economic impact on the video game sector is not expected to be as large as in film or other entertainment sectors as much of the work in video game production can be decentralised and performed remotely, and products distributed digitally to consumers regardless of various national and regional lockdowns on businesses and services.


Medicine

The pandemic led to a boom in medicine-related elements such as plastic surger


Publishing

The pandemic is predicted to have a dire effect on local newspapers in the United States, where many were already severely struggling beforehand. In light of the public health situation in which includes afflicted regions where retail sectors deemed non-essential have been ordered closed for the interim,
Diamond Comic Distributors Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. (often called Diamond Comics, DCD, or casually Diamond) is an American comic book distributor serving retailers in North America and worldwide. They transport comic books and graphic novels, as well as other po ...
announced on 24 March 2020 a full suspension of distributing published material and related merchandise as 1 April 2020 until further notice. As Diamond has a near-monopoly on printed comic book distribution, this is described as an "
extinction-level event An extinction event (also known as a mass extinction or biotic crisis) is a widespread and rapid decrease in the biodiversity on Earth. Such an event is identified by a sharp change in the diversity and abundance of multicellular organisms. ...
" that threatens to drive the entire specialized comic book retail sector out of business with that one move. As a result, publishers like
IDW Publishing IDW Publishing is an American publisher of comic books, graphic novels, art books, and comic strip collections. It was founded in 1999 as the publishing division of Idea and Design Works, LLC (IDW), itself formed in 1999, and is regularly re ...
and
Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, and manga publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, Oregon comic book shops know ...
have suspended publication of their periodicals while
DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. ( doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with the ...
is exploring distribution alternatives including an increased focus on online retail of digital material. Total US book sales went down by 8.4% in March 2020 compared to March 2019 after the stay-at-home orders were implemented, with bookstore sales dropping by an estimated 33%. By June 2020, demand began to recover with the exception of educational material and bookstore sales, with most sales going to Amazon and
big-box store A big-box store (also hyperstore, supercenter, superstore, or megastore) is a physically large retail establishment, usually part of a chain of stores. The term sometimes also refers, by extension, to the company that operates the store. The te ...
s, who were open since they were considered essential businesses. Books that were initially supposed to be published in spring and early summer were delayed until fall, with the expectation that the pandemic would be over by then. Two of the major printing companies,
Quad Quad as a word or prefix usually means 'four'. It may refer to: Government * Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, a strategic security dialogue between Australia, India, Japan, and the United States * Quadrilateral group, an informal group which inc ...
and
LSC Communications LSC Communications is an American commercial printing company based in Chicago, Illinois, and, as of December 2020, a fully-owned subsidiary of Atlas Holdings. The company was established in 2016 as part of a corporate spin-off from RR Donnel ...
, faced financial issues into the latter half of the year as the latter declared bankruptcy during a rise in demand. Increased sales were attributed to major book releases and increased demand for children's books and books about race and racism. This created supply chain bottleneck at the printing process for most publishers. According to
NPD BookScan The NPD Group, Inc. (NPD; formerly National Purchase Diary Panel Inc. and NPD Research Inc.) is an American market research company founded on September 28, 1966, and based in Port Washington, New York. In 2017, NPD ranked as the 8th largest ma ...
, print sales went up almost 8% in 2020.


Retail

The pandemic has impacted the retail sector. Shopping centres around the world responded by reducing hours or closing down temporarily. As of 18 March 2020, the footfall to shopping centres fell by up to 30%, with significant impact in every continent. Additionally, product demand exceeded supply for many consumables, resulting in empty retail shelves. In Australia, the pandemic has provided a new opportunity for daigou shoppers to re-sell into the China market. "The virus crisis, while frightening, has a silver lining". Some retailers have employed contactless home delivery or curbside pickup for items purchased through e-commerce sites. By April, retailers had started implementing "retail to go" models where consumers could pick up their orders. An estimated 40% of shoppers were shopping online and choosing to pick up in-store, a behavior that had suddenly doubled as compared to the previous year. Small-scale farmers have been embracing digital technologies as a way to directly sell produce, and community-supported agriculture and direct-sell delivery systems are on the rise. In mid-April, Amazon confirmed that workers at over half of its 110 U.S. warehouses had been diagnosed with coronavirus. On 16 June, the
United States Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce is an executive department of the U.S. federal government concerned with creating the conditions for economic growth and opportunity. Among its tasks are gathering economic and demographic data for bus ...
announced that retail sales for the month of May had seen an increase of 17.7% from April as states began to reopen and lift restrictions. According to
CNBC CNBC (formerly Consumer News and Business Channel) is an American basic cable business news channel. It provides business news programming on weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time, while broadcasting talk s ...
, This marks the biggest one month jump in the history of retailing in the United States. Numbers for June reflected a 7.5 percent rise in sales.


Business closures

By April, department store retailers
JCPenney Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney and often abbreviated JCP, is a midscale American department store chain operating 667 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Mens, Womens, Boys, Gi ...
,
Nordstrom Nordstrom, Inc. () is an American luxury department store chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin in 1901. The original Wallin & Nordstrom store operated exclusively as a shoe store, and ...
,
Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...
and Kohl's had lost $12.3 billion combined in market caps.
Neiman Marcus Neiman Marcus Group, Inc. is an American integrated luxury retailer headquartered in Dallas, Texas, which owns Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Horchow, and Last Call. Since September 2021, NMG has been owned by a group of investment compani ...
and JCPenney defaulted on bond payments in April, preparing internally for bankruptcy court and bankruptcy protection. J.Crew and Neiman Marcus filed for bankruptcy during the first week of May; they were reportedly the first two major retailers to do so during the pandemic. JCPenney filed for bankruptcy on 15 May. In May,
Pier 1 Pier 1 Imports, Inc. is an online retailer and former Fort Worth, Texas-based retail chain specializing in imported home furnishings and decor, particularly furniture, table-top items, decorative accessories, and seasonal decor. It was publicl ...
announced it would close as soon as possible. It had sought court protection in February and had hoped that someone would buy the business, but the subsequent recession made this seem unlikely. In early 2021,
Family Video Family Video Movie Club Inc. was an American brick and mortar video rental chain serving the United States and Canada. The family-owned company was headquartered in Glenview, Illinois. History In 1946, Clarence Hoogland founded Midstates ...
announced all their remaining stores would be liquidated and closed down.


E-commerce

The pandemic boosted e-commerce sales. With more people staying at home, both by choice as well as through government lockdowns, there was a decline in
brick-and-mortar Brick and mortar (also bricks and mortar or B&M) refers to a physical presence of an organization or business in a building or other structure. The term ''brick-and-mortar business'' is often used to refer to a company that possesses or leases r ...
shopping. On the other hand, e-commerce surged 34% during 2020, and in 2021 surpassed levels not expected until 2025, projected to reach $843 billion in the US in 2021. Despite persistent cross-country differences, the covid-19 crisis has enhanced dynamism within the e-commerce landscape across countries and has dilated the scope of e-commerce, as well as through new firms, client segments (e.g. elderly) and product (e.g. groceries). The pandemic has created a shift in the manner shoppers behave and perform their activities, directly moving the e-commerce industry so the prosperity of e-commerce during
pandemic A pandemic () is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. A widespread endemic disease with a stable number of in ...
lockdown has increased significantly. The impact of the epidemic on transportation and production has affected e-commerce. Customers will consider whether goods can be shipped on time and delivered on time, and these factors will affect their choices. Under the current epidemic conditions, some online sellers, taking advantage of the characteristics of e-commerce, are defrauding consumers. The problems and flaws exposed by these e-merchants in the epidemic situation further push e-merchants towards a more mature and regulated path. Social media plays a huge role, Facebook and own e-commerce web sites of e-commerce firms are the foremost growing sales channels since the start of the covid-19 crisis. Global e-commerce sales are expected to reach $6.5 trillion by 2023, up from $3.5 trillion in 2019.


Restaurant sector

The pandemic has impacted the restaurant business. In the beginning of March 2020, some major cities in the US announced that bars and restaurants would be closed to sit-down dinners and limited to takeout orders and delivery. Later in the month, many states put in place restrictions that required restaurants to be takeout or delivery only. Some employees were fired, and more employees lacked sick leave in the sector compared to similar sectors. With only carry-out and delivery services, most servers and bartenders were laid off, prompting these employees creating "virtual tip jars" across 23 U.S. cities. In the United States, an initiative known as the "Great American Takeout" called on people under quarantine to support local restaurants each Tuesday by ordering takeout for curbside pickup or using food delivery services. It began in late March 2020.


Science and technology

The pandemic impacted productivity of science, space and technology projects. Space agencies including
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...
and the
European Space Agency , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (120 ...
halted production of the
Space Launch System The Space Launch System (SLS) is an American super heavy-lift expendable launch vehicle developed by NASA. As of 2022, SLS has the highest payload capacity of any rocket in operational service, as well as the greatest liftoff thrust of any ...
,
James Webb Space Telescope The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a space telescope which conducts infrared astronomy. As the largest optical telescope in space, its high resolution and sensitivity allow it to view objects too old, distant, or faint for the Hubble Sp ...
, and put space science probes into hibernation or low power mode and shifted to
remote work Remote work, also called work from home (WFH), work from anywhere, telework, remote job, mobile work, and distance work is an employment arrangement in which employees do not commute to a central place of work, such as an office building, ware ...
. Various IT companies had launched several programs to sustain in this
pandemic A pandemic () is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. A widespread endemic disease with a stable number of in ...
and in this new normal life. The pandemic may have improved scientific communication or established new forms of it. For instance a lot of data is being released on preprint servers and is getting dissected on social Internet platforms and sometimes in the media before entering formal
peer review Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work ( peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer revie ...
. Scientists are reviewing, editing, analyzing and publishing manuscripts and data at record speeds and in large numbers. This intense communication may have allowed an unusual level of collaboration and efficiency among scientists.


Tourism

Philia Tounta summarised likely effects of COVID-19 on global tourism early in March 2020: * severe effects because tourism depends on travel * quarantine restrictions * fear of airports and other places of mass gathering * fears of illness abroad * issues with cross-border medical insurance * tourism enterprise bankruptcies * tourism industry unemployment *
airfare An airfare (otherwise known as a fare) is the fee paid by a passenger for air transport and is made up of the charge for a passenger to fly from an origin to destination and includes the conditions, rules and restrictions for travelling on the airfa ...
cost increases * damage to the image of the
cruise A cruise is any travel on a cruise ship. Cruise or Cruises may also refer to: Tourism * Booze cruise * Music cruise * River cruise Aeronautics and aircraft * Cruise (aeronautics), a distinct stage of an aircraft's flight * Aviasouz Cruise, a R ...
industry


Events and institutions

The pandemic has caused the cancellation or postponement of major events around the world. Some public venues and institutions have closed.


Transportation

Staffing issues caused transportation bottlenecks in trucking and at ports in developed countries. Supply problems and sudden demand for socially-distanced recreation and alternatives to public transport caused a shortage of bicycles in the United States. The
cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as ...
industry has also been heavily affected by a downturn, with the share prices of the major
cruise line A cruise line is a company that operates cruise ships that operate on ocean or rivers and which markets cruises to the public. Cruise lines are distinct from passenger lines which are primarily concerned with transportation of passengers. Though ...
s down 70–80%. In many of the world's cities, planned travel went down by 80–90%.


Aviation

The pandemic has had a significant impact on the aviation industry due to the resulting travel restrictions as well as a slump in demand among travellers. Significant reductions in passenger numbers have resulted in planes flying empty between airports and the cancellation of flights. United States passenger airlines can expect about $50 billion in subsidies from the
Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, also known as the CARES Act, is a $2.2trillion Stimulus (economics), economic stimulus bill passed by the 116th U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump on March 27, 2 ...
.


Cruise lines

Cruise lines had to cancel sailings after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Bookings and cancellations grew as extensive media coverage of ill passengers on quarantined ships hurt the industry's image. Shares of cruise lines fell sharply in value on 27 March 2020 when the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act excluded companies that are not "organized" under United States law. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) tweeted: "The giant cruise companies incorporate overseas to dodge US taxes, flag vessels overseas to avoid US taxes and laws, and pollute without offset. Why should we bail them out?" Senator
Josh Hawley Joshua David Hawley (born December 31, 1979) is an American politician and lawyer who has served as the junior United States senator from Missouri since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, Hawley served as the 42nd attorney general of Mi ...
(R-MO) tweeted that cruise lines should register and pay taxes in the United States if they expect a financial bailout. U.S-based employees and small, American-owned companies are eligible for financial assistance.


Railways

Several rail operators had to receive state aid and/or reduced their scheduled services.
Deutsche Bahn The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder. describes itself as the ...
received billions of € in federal aid to cover record losses.


Gambling and betting

According to the American Gaming Association, the industry will be hit by losses up to $43.5 billion in economic activity in the following months. Some projection was that the sports gambling industry may lose $140 million alone in the fourth weekend of March (21–22 March 2020) on lost NCAA basketball tournament bets. Gambling companies are eager to shift customers from retail into online casino and poker games to fight the loss of revenue due to the cancellation of sports fixtures and the shutdown of betting shops. Gambling groups increased the advertising of online casino games and play on social media. Some argue that virtual racing, as well as draw based games, are also proving popular. Some software betting providers have specially designed campaigns promoting online betting solutions to attract betting companies. Long term consequences to the betting and gambling industry might be: Death of small retail operators and providers, increase in M&A, more focus on online, innovation in online meaning that even the existing products like the sportsbook will pay closer attention to obscure sports like soap soccer or quidditch and more prominent spot for virtual games online. In
Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...
, the world's top gambling destination by revenue, all casinos were closed for 15 days in February 2020 and suffered a year-on-year revenue drop of 88%, the worst ever recorded in the territory.


Unemployment

The
International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and o ...
stated on 7 April that it predicted a 6.7% loss of job hours globally in the second quarter of 2020, equivalent to 195 million full-time jobs. They also estimated that 30 million jobs were lost in the first quarter alone, compared to 25 million during the
Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...
. The effects of covid-19 on unemployment lasted much longer than was initially expecting. Almost 18 months after the start of the pandemic, the state of New York was still down almost a quarter of the jobs that were available in the hospitality industry pre-pandemic. This was the largest percent in any state in the United States, but other states still faced a similar issue. In January and February 2020, during the height of the epidemic in Wuhan, about 5 million people in China lost their jobs. Many of China's nearly 300 million rural migrant workers have been stranded at home in inland provinces or trapped in Hubei province. In March 2020, more than 10 million Americans lost their jobs and applied for government aid. Total nonfarm jobs fell from a high of 152.5 million in February 2020 to 130.2 million in April. , the US had about 143 million nonfarm jobs. The lockdown in India has left tens of millions of
migrant worker A migrant worker is a person who migrates within a home country or outside it to pursue work. Migrant workers usually do not have the intention to stay permanently in the country or region in which they work. Migrant workers who work outsi ...
s unemployed. The survey from the Angus Reid Institute found that 44% of Canadian households have experienced some type of job loss. Nearly 900,000 workers lost their jobs in Spain since it went into lockdown in mid-March 2020. During the second half of March, 4 million French workers applied for temporary unemployment benefits and 1 million British workers applied for a universal credit scheme. Almost half a million companies in Germany have sent their workers on a government-subsidized short-time working schemes known as Kurzarbeit. The German short-time work compensation scheme has been copied by France and Britain. The pandemic's economic impacts are likely to increase sexual exploitation and child marriage, leaving women and girls in fragile economies and refugee contexts particularly vulnerable. The potential combined impact of COVID-19 on unemployment, households’ purchasing power, food prices, and food availability in local markets could severely jeopardize access to food in the most vulnerable countries.


Impact by gender

Around the world, women generally earn less and save less, are the majority of single-parent households and disproportionately hold more insecure jobs in the informal economy or service sector with less access to social protections. This leaves them less able to absorb the economic shocks than men. For many families, school closures and social distancing measures have increased the unpaid care and domestic load of women at home, making them less able to take on or balance paid work. The situation is worse in developing economies, where a larger share of people are employed in the informal economy in which there are far fewer social protections for health insurance, paid sick leave and more. Although globally informal employment is a greater source of employment for men (63 per cent) than for women (58 per cent), in low and lower-middle income countries a higher proportion of women are in informal employment than men. Unlike previous crisis', the COVID-19 pandemic affected more women dominated industries rather than male dominated industries: women were in the forefront in the fight against COVID-19 as most healthcare workers are women. In Sub-Saharan Africa, for example, around 92 per cent of employed women are in informal employment compared to 86 per cent of men. It is likely that the pandemic could result in a prolonged dip in women's incomes and labour force participation. The ILO estimates global unemployment to rise between 5.3 million ("low" scenario) and 24.7 million ("high" scenario) from a base level of 188 million in 2019 as a result of COVID-19's impact on global GDP growth. By comparison, global unemployment went up by 22 million during the
Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...
. Women informal workers, migrants, youth and the world's poorest, among other vulnerable groups, are more susceptible to lay-offs and job cuts. For example, UN Women survey results from Asia and the Pacific are showing that women are losing their livelihoods faster than men and have fewer alternatives to generate income. And, in the U.S., men's unemployment went up from 3.55 million in February to 11 million in April in 2020 while women's unemployment – which was lower than men's before the crisis – went up from 2.7 million to 11.5 million over the same period, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The picture is even bleaker for young women and men aged 16–19, whose unemployment rate jumped from 11.5 per cent in February to 32.2 per cent in April. In Japan, women have been disproportionately hit by the Covid pandemic because sectors like retail and hospitality employ many women and have been heavily affected by the pandemic recession. According to the health ministry, the suicide rate among Japanese women rose 14.5% in 2020, while it fell by 1% among men.


Economic inequality

Since most of the workforce who preserved their jobs had the option of switching to an online modality, and the online workforce is considerably higher paid on averarge, the pandemic exacerbated income inequality by hitting harder on low-paid workers.


Economic impact by continent, region and country

A weekly update on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the world economy, and on major individual economies such as the US, China, Japan, other Asian economies, Europe, Australia and New Zealand has been produced by Saul Eslake, one of Australia's best-known economists, since late April 2020. The global GDP total had shrunk by nearly $22 trillion as of January 2021, during the course of the pandemic. According to Chief IMF Economist
Gita Gopinath Gita Gopinath (born 8 December 1971) is an Indian-American economist who has served as the first deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), since 21 January 2022. She had previously served as chief economist of the IMF b ...
, the long-term consequences have not fully played out but could be expected to be in the trillions from 2020 to 2025. Post-COVID economic recovery prospects are high, and most countries are expected to see higher than usual economic growth. This is different from conventional economic recessions, according to the IMF. The China, India,
ASEAN ASEAN ( , ), officially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a political and economic union of 10 member states in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, milita ...
nations and other emerging Asian economies are expected to continue growing most significantly throughout the 2020s, and is expected to dominate global economic growth following the pandemic.


Asia


East Asia


= Mainland China

= The
economy of China The China, People's Republic of China has an upper middle income Developing country, developing Mixed economy, mixed socialist market economy that incorporates economic planning through Industrial policy, industrial policies and strategic Five- ...
was anticipated to generate billions in economic output.
Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment management and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in more than 41 countries and more than 75,000 employees, the fir ...
expected the economy of China to grow by between 5.6% (worst-case scenario) to 5.9% for 2020. For reference, China generated US$143 billion in February 2019, the month of Chinese New Year. The Chinese
Ministry of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government ...
reported that trips on trains dropped 73% to 190 million trips from the previous year. Factories, retailers, and restaurant chains closed. All 70,000 theatre screens in the country were shuttered, wiping out the entire box office. This is drastically in stark difference from the week of Chinese New Year in 2019 that generated $836 million. Though cautioning that the economic impact would be short-term, PRC National Development and Reform Commission party secretary Cong Liang views small and medium businesses encountering more difficulties in their operations. Human Resources and Social Security Assistant Minister You Jun specified that agricultural workers and college graduates would have difficulties.
Tourism in China Tourism in China is a growing industry that is becoming a significant part of the Chinese economy. The rate of tourism has expanded over the last few decades since the beginning of reform and opening-up. The emergence of a newly rich middle c ...
has been hit hard by travel restrictions and fears of contagion, including a ban on both domestic and international tour groups. Many airlines have either cancelled or greatly reduced flights to China and several travel advisories now warn against travel to China. Many countries, including France, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States, have evacuated their nationals from the Wuhan and Hubei provinces. The majority of schools and universities have extended their annual holidays to mid-February. Overseas students enrolled at Chinese universities have been returning home over fears of being infected—the first cases to be reported by Nepal and
Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South Ca ...
, a southern state of India, were both of students who had returned home. Nearly 200 million students have been affected by the in-school closures, with the second semester after the Chunyun resuming on 17 February through online classes for students to follow from their homes instead. The Ministry of Education has introduced a 7,000-server supported "national Internet cloud classroom" to cater to the 50 million elementary and middle school student populations. The Finance Ministry of China announced it would fully subsidise personal medical costs incurred by patients. CNN reported that some people from Wuhan "have become outcasts in their own country, shunned by hotels, neighbors and – in some areas – placed under controversial quarantine measures." The sale of new cars in China has been affected due to the outbreak. There was a 92% reduction on the volume of cars sold during the first two weeks of February 2020. On 24 February, China's Standing Committee declared an immediate and "comprehensive" ban on its US$74 billion wildlife trade industry, citing the "prominent problem of excessive consumption of wild animals, and the huge hidden dangers to public health and safety" that has been revealed by the outbreak. This permanently extends the temporary ban already in place since the end of January. According to Carbon Brief, the coronavirus pandemic has resulted in China's
greenhouse gas emissions Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and ...
being reduced by 25%. In March 2020, satellite images from space provided by
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...
revealed that pollution has dropped significantly, which has been attributed in part to the slowdown of economic activity as a result of the outbreak.


Shortages of medical supplies

As the epidemic accelerated, the mainland market saw a shortage of face masks due to the increased need from the public. It was reported that Shanghai customers had to queue for nearly an hour to buy a pack of face masks which was sold out in another half an hour. Some stores hoarded supplies, driving up prices, so the market regulator cracked down on such acts. The shortage will not be relieved until late February, when most workers return from the New Year vacation, according to Lei Limin, an expert in the industry. On 22 January 2020,
Taobao Taobao () is a Chinese online shopping platform. It is headquartered in Hangzhou and is owned by Alibaba. According to Alexa rank, it is the eighth most-visited website globally in 2021. Taobao.com was registered on April 21, 2003 by Alibaba ...
, China's largest e-commerce platform owned by Alibaba Group, said that all face masks on
Taobao Taobao () is a Chinese online shopping platform. It is headquartered in Hangzhou and is owned by Alibaba. According to Alexa rank, it is the eighth most-visited website globally in 2021. Taobao.com was registered on April 21, 2003 by Alibaba ...
and Tmall would not be allowed to increase in price. Special subsidies would be provided to the retailers. Also, Alibaba Health's "urgent drug delivery" service would not be closed during the Spring Festival. JD, another leading Chinese e-commerce platform, said, "We are actively working to ensure supply and price stability from sources, storage and distribution, platform control and so on" and "while fully ensuring price stability for JD's own commodities, JD.com has also exercised strict control over the commodities on JD's platform. Third-party vendors selling face masks are prohibited from raising prices. Once it is confirmed that the prices of third-party vendors have increased abnormally, JD will immediately remove the offending commodities from shelves and deal with the offending vendors accordingly." Other major e-commerce platforms including Sunning.com and Pinduoduo also promised to keep the prices of health products stable.


Economy

China's economic growth is expected to slow by up to 1.1% in the first half of 2020 as economic activity is negatively affected by the new coronavirus pandemic, according to a Morgan Stanley study cited by
Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was est ...
. But on 1 February 2020, the
People's Bank of China The People's Bank of China (officially PBC or informally PBOC; ) is the central bank of the People's Republic of China, responsible for carrying out monetary policy and regulation of financial institutions in mainland China, as determined by ...
said that the impact of the epidemic on China's economy was temporary and that the fundamentals of China's long-term positive and high-quality growth remained unchanged. In late January, economists predicted a V-shaped recovery. By March, it was much more uncertain. Due to the outbreak, the
Shanghai Stock Exchange The Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) is a stock exchange based in the city of Shanghai, China. It is one of the three stock exchanges operating independently in mainland China, the others being the Beijing Stock Exchange and the Shenzhen Stock Excha ...
and the
Shenzhen Stock Exchange The Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE; ) is a stock exchange based in the city of Shenzhen, in the People's Republic of China. It is one of three stock exchanges operating independently in Mainland China, the others being the Beijing Stock Exch ...
announced that with the approval of the
China Securities Regulatory Commission The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) is a government ministry of the State Council of the People's Republic of China (PRC). It is the main regulator of the securities industry in China. History China's first Securities Law was ...
, the closing time for the Spring Festival will be extended to 2 February and trading will resume on 3 February. Before that, on 23 January, the last trading day of a shares before the Spring Festival, all three major stock indexes opened lower, creating a drop of about 3%, and the Shanghai Composite Index fell below 3000. On 2 February, the first trading day after the holiday, the three major indexes even set a record low opening of about 8%. By the end of the day, the decline narrowed slightly to about 7%, the Shenzhen index fell below 10,000 points, a total of 3,177 stocks in the two markets fell. The People's Bank of China and the
State Administration of Foreign Exchange The State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) of the People's Republic of China is an administrative agency under the State Council tasked with drafting rules and regulations governing foreign exchange market activities, and managing the ...
have announced that the inter-bank
Renminbi The renminbi (; symbol: ¥; ISO code: CNY; abbreviation: RMB) is the official currency of the People's Republic of China and one of the world's most traded currencies, ranking as the fifth most traded currency in the world as of April 202 ...
foreign exchange market, the foreign currency-to-market and the foreign currency market will extend their holiday closed until 2 February 2020. When the market opened on 3 February, the Renminbi was now depreciating against major foreign currencies. The central parity rate of the Renminbi against the US dollar opened at 6.9249, a drop of 373
basis point A basis point (often abbreviated as bp, often pronounced as "bip" or "beep") is one hundredth of 1 percentage point. The related term ''permyriad'' means one hundredth of 1 percent. Changes of interest rates are often stated in basis points. If ...
s from the previous trading day. It fell below the 7.00 than an hour after the opening, and closed at 7.0257. The
World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...
expects China to grow by just 0.1–2.3%, the lowest growth rate in decades. On 22 May, Chinese Premier
Li Keqiang Li Keqiang (born 1 July 1955) is a Chinese politician who is the outgoing premier of China. An economist by profession, Li is head of China's executive branch as well as one of the leading figures behind China's Financial and Economic Affa ...
announced that, for the first time in history, the
central government A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or del ...
wouldn't set an economic growth target for 2020, with the economy having contracted by 6.8% compared to 2019 and China facing an "unpredictable" time. However, the government also stated an intention to create 9 million new urban jobs until the end of 2020. In October 2020, it was announced that China's third-quarter GDP has grown with 4.9%, hereby missing analysts expectations (which was set at 5,2%). However, it does show that China's economy has indeed been steadily recovering from the coronavirus shock that caused decades-low growth. To fuel economic growth, the country set aside hundreds of billions of dollars for major infrastructure projects and used population tracking policies and enforced the stringent lockdown to contain the virus. It is the only major economy that is expected to grow in 2020, according to the International Monetary Fund. By December 2020, China's economic recovery was accelerating amid increasing demand for manufactured goods. The UK-based Centre for Economics and Business Research projected that China's "skilful management of the pandemic" would cause the Chinese economy to surpass the United States and become the world's largest economy by nominal GDP in 2028, five years sooner than previously expected.


= Hong Kong

= Hong Kong has seen high-profile protests that saw tourist arrivals from mainland China plummet over an eight-month period. The viral epidemic put additional pressure on the travel sector to withstand a prolonged period of downturn. A drop in arrivals from third countries more resilient during the previous months has also been cited as a concern. The city is already in recession and Moody has lowered the city's credit rating. There has also been a renewed increase in protest activity as hostile sentiment against mainland Chinese strengthened over fears of viral transmission from mainland China, with many calling for the border ports to be closed and for all mainland Chinese travellers to be refused entry. Incidents have included a number of petrol bombs being thrown at police stations, a homemade bomb exploding in a toilet, and foreign objects being thrown onto transit rail tracks between Hong Kong and the mainland Chinese border. Political issues raised have included concerns that mainland Chinese may prefer to travel to Hong Kong to seek free medical help (which has since been addressed by the Hong Kong government). Since the outbreak of the virus, a significant number of products have been sold out across the city, including face masks and disinfectant products (such as alcohol and bleach). An ongoing period of panic buying has also caused many stores to be cleared of non-medical products such as bottled water, vegetables and rice. The
Government of Hong Kong The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, commonly known as the Hong Kong Government or HKSAR Government, refers to the executive authorities of Hong Kong SAR. It was formed on 1 July 1997 in accordance with the Sino- ...
had its imports of face masks cancelled as global face mask stockpiles decline. In view of the coronavirus pandemic, the
Education Bureau The Education Bureau (EDB) is responsible for formulating and implementing education policies in Hong Kong. The bureau is headed by the Secretary for Education and oversees agencies including University Grants Committee and Student Fina ...
closed all kindergartens, primary schools, secondary schools, and special schools until 17 February. This has been extended for multiple times due to the development of the epidemic, until the Bureau announced that all schools would be indefinitely suspended until further notice on 31 March. The disruption has raised concerns over the situation of students who are due to take examinations at the end of the year, especially in light of the protest-related disruption that happened in 2019. On 5 February, flag carrier
Cathay Pacific Cathay Pacific Airways Limited (CPA), more widely known as Cathay Pacific (), is the flag carrier of Hong Kong, with its head office and main hub located at Hong Kong International Airport. The airline's operations and subsidiaries have ...
requested its 27,000 employees to voluntarily take three weeks of unpaid leave by the end of June. The airline had previously reduced flights to mainland China by 90% and to overall flights by 30%.


= Macau

= On 4 February 2020, all
casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live enterta ...
s in Macau were ordered shut down for 15 days. All casinos reopened on 20 February 2020, but visitor numbers remained low due to the pandemic, with hotels at less than 12% occupancy at the end of February.


= Japan

= Former Prime Minister
Shinzō Abe Shinzo Abe ( ; ja, 安倍 晋三, Hepburn: , ; 21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 20 ...
has said that "the new coronavirus is having a major impact on tourism, the economy and our society as a whole". Face masks have sold out across the nation and stocks of face masks are depleted within a day of new arrivals. There has been pressure placed on the healthcare system as demands for medical checkups increase. Chinese people have reported increasing discrimination. The
health minister A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental health. Coun ...
has pointed out that the situation has not reached a point where mass gatherings must be called off 1 February 2020. Aviation, retail and tourism sectors have reported decreased sales and some manufactures have complained about disruption to Chinese factories, logistics and supply chains. Prime Minister Abe has considered using emergency funds to mitigate the outbreak's impact on tourism, of which Chinese nationals account for 40%. S&P Global noted that the worst hit shares were from companies spanning travel, cosmetics and retail sectors which are most exposed to Chinese tourism. Nintendo announced that they would delay shipment of the
Nintendo Switch The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a tablet that can either be docked for use as a home console or used as a portable device, making it a ...
, which is manufactured in China, to Japan. The outbreak itself has been a concern for the
2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...
which is scheduled to take place in Tokyo starting at the end of July. The national government has thus been taking extra precautions to help minimise the outbreak's impact. The Tokyo organising committee and the
International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swis ...
have been monitoring the outbreak's impact in Japan. On 27 February 2020, Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe Shinzo Abe ( ; ja, 安倍 晋三, Hepburn: , ; 21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 20 ...
requested that all Japanese elementary, junior high, and high schools close until late March, the end of the school year, to help contain the virus. Schools will only reopen for the next term after spring break in early April and the nationwide closures will affect 13 million students.


= South Korea

= On 5 February 2020,
Hyundai Motor Company Hyundai Motor Company, often abbreviated to Hyundai Motors ( ) and commonly known as Hyundai (, ; ), is a South Korean multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, and founded in 1967. Currently, the company o ...
was forced to suspend production in South Korea due to shortage in supply of parts. South Korea has been reporting increasing human-to-human community transmission of COVID-19 since 19 February 2020, traced to a church of Shincheonji, located near the city of Daegu. Apart from the city of Daegu and the church community involved, most of South Korea is operating close to normality, although nine planned festivals have been closed and tax-free retailers are closing. South Korean military manpower agency made an announcement that conscription from the Daegu will temporarily be suspended. The ''Daegu Office of Education'' decided to postpone the start of every school in the region by one week. Numerous educational institutes have temporarily shut down, including dozens of kindergartens in
Daegu Daegu (, , literally 'large hill', 대구광역시), formerly spelled Taegu and officially known as the Daegu Metropolitan City, is a city in South Korea. It is the third-largest urban agglomeration in South Korea after Seoul and Busan; it is ...
and several elementary schools in
Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the Capital city, capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the North Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea ...
. As of 18 February, most universities in South Korea had announced plans to postpone the start of the spring semester. This included 155 universities planning to delay the semester start by 2 weeks to 16 and 22 March universities planning to delay the semester start by 1 week to 9 March. Also, on 23 February 2020, all kindergartens, elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools were announced to delay the semester start from 2 to 9 March. The economy of South Korea is forecast to grow 1.9%, which is down from 2.1%. The government has provided 136.7 billion won for local governments as support. The government has also organised the procurement of masks and other hygiene equipment.


= Taiwan

= On 24 January, the Taiwanese government announced a temporary ban on the export of face masks for a month to secure a supply of masks for its own citizens. On 2 February 2020, Taiwan's Central Epidemic Command Center postponed the opening of primary and secondary schools until 25 February. Taiwan has also announced a ban of cruise ships from entering all Taiwanese ports. In January, Italy has banned flights from mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. On 10 February, the Philippines announced it will ban the entry of Taiwanese citizens due to the One-China Policy. Later on 14 February, Presidential Spokesperson of Philippines, Salvador Panelo, announced the lifting of the temporary ban on Taiwan. In early February 2020 Taiwan's Central Epidemic Command Center requested the mobilisation of the Taiwanese Armed Forces to contain the spread of the virus and to build up the defences against it. Soldiers were dispatched to the factory floors of major mask manufacturers to help staff the 62 additional mask production lines being set up at the time. In the aviation industry, Taiwanese carrier
China Airlines China Airlines (CAL; ) is the state-owned flag carrier of the Republic of China (Taiwan), and one of its two major airlines along with EVA Air. It is headquartered in Taoyuan International Airport and operates over 1,400 flights weekly (in ...
's direct flights to Rome have been rejected and cancelled since Italy has announced the ban on Taiwanese flights. On the other hand, the second-largest Taiwanese carrier,
Eva Air EVA Airways Corporation (pronounced as three letters: ; ) (), of which "EVA" stands for Evergreen Airways, is a Taiwanese international airline based at Taoyuan International Airport near Taipei, Taiwan, operating passenger and dedicated ca ...
, has also postponed the launch of
Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...
and
Phuket Phuket (; th, ภูเก็ต, , ms, Bukit or ''Tongkah''; Hokkien:普吉; ) is one of the southern provinces (''changwat'') of Thailand. It consists of the island of Phuket, the country's largest island, and another 32 smaller islands o ...
flights. Both Taiwanese airlines have cut numerous cross-strait destinations, leaving just three Chinese cities still served.


South Asia


= India

= In India, economists expect the near-term impact of the outbreak to be limited to the supply chains of major conglomerates, especially pharmaceuticals, fertilisers, automobiles, textiles and electronics. A severe impact on global trade logistics is also expected due to disruption of logistics in mainland China, but due to the combined risk with regional geopolitical tensions, wider trade wars and
Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 Greenwich Mean Time, GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 Central Eur ...
. The stock market took a bearish mode in response to COVID-19. The BSE SENSEX fell 2919 and
NIFTY 50 The NIFTY 50 is a benchmark Indian stock market index that represents the weighted average of 50 of the largest Indian companies listed on the National Stock Exchange. It is one of the two main stock indices used in India, the other being th ...
fell 950 points in a single day on 12 March 2020. On 19 March 2020, the Indian government has banned the export of ventilators, surgical/disposable masks and textile raw materials out of the country. Oil has plummeted to 18-year low of $22 per barrel in March, and Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) have withdrawn huge amounts from India, about US$571.4 million. While lower oil prices will shrink the current account deficit, reverse capital flows will expand it. Rupee is continuously depreciating. MSMEs will undergo a severe cash crunch.


= Pakistan

= The economy of Pakistan faced a devastating impact from the coronavirus outbreak because it was in recessionary conditions in the quarter prior to the pandemic. Weak social protections and low investment in healthcare meant that most citizens were vulnerable to pandemic conditions at the time of the outbreak. Forecasts of the economic loss from the three-month lockdown, which was subsequently eased in late May 2020, indicated that Pakistan would face its first annual economic recession since 1952. Given the strained government resources, civil society and charity organizations became much more active in providing relief to the public during the national lockdown.


= Sri Lanka

= In February 2020, research houses expected the economic impact in Sri Lanka to be limited to a short-term impact on the tourism and transport sectors.


Southeast Asia

Among
Association of Southeast Asian Nations ASEAN ( , ), officially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a political and economic union of 10 member states in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, mi ...
countries, the city-state of Singapore was forecast to be one of the worst-hit countries by
Maybank Malayan Banking Berhad (doing business as Maybank) is a Malaysian universal bank, with key operating "home markets" of Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. According to the 2020 Brand Finance report, Maybank is Malaysia's most valuable bank b ...
. The tourism sector was considered to be an "immediate concern" along with the effects on production lines due to disruption to factories and logistics in mainland China. Singapore has witnessed panic buying of essential groceries, and of masks, thermometers and sanitation products despite being advised against doing so by the
Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government i ...
. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that a recession in the country is a possibility and that the country's economy "would definitely take a hit". On 17 February, the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) downgraded Singapore's forecast GDP growth to between −0.5% and 1.5%. This is largely due to the fall in tourism and social distancing restrictions. On 26 March, MTI said it believed that the economy would contract by between 1% and 4% in 2020. This was after the economy shrank some 2.2% in the first quarter of 2020 from the same quarter in 2019. On 26 May, the Singapore economy contracted 0.7%YoY, which was better than the expected contraction of 2.2%. However, MTI said that it was revising down its expectation for the Singapore economy in 2020 to shrink by 4% to 7%. Economists were behind the curve in downgrading their numbers. Euben Paracuelles, at Nomura argued that while some ASEAN economies had success in containing the virus, the presence of global uncertainties meant that any regional recovery would be restrained. For example, while Thailand had managed to contain the virus, it was not open to tourism, which forms a substantial part of its economy. Prime Minister
Hun Sen Hun Sen (; km, ហ៊ុន សែន, ; born 5 August 1952) is a Cambodian politician and former military commander who has served as the prime minister of Cambodia since 1985. He is the longest-serving head of government of Cambodia, and ...
of Cambodia made a special visit to China with an aim to showcase Cambodia's support to China in fighting the outbreak of the epidemic. Maybank economists rated Thailand as being most at risk, with the threat of the viral outbreak's impact on tourism causing the
Thai baht The baht (; th, บาท, ; sign: ฿; code: THB) is the official currency of Thailand. It is divided into 100 ''satang'' (, ). The issuance of currency is the responsibility of the Bank of Thailand. SWIFT ranked the Thai baht as the 10th-mos ...
to fall to a seven-month low. In Indonesia, over 10,000 Chinese tourists cancelled trips and flights to major destinations such as
Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and ...
,
Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital city, capital and list of Indonesian cities by population, largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coa ...
,
Bandung Bandung ( su, ᮘᮔ᮪ᮓᮥᮀ, Bandung, ; ) is the capital city of the Indonesian province of West Java. It has a population of 2,452,943 within its city limits according to the official estimates as at mid 2021, making it the fourth most ...
, etc., over coronavirus fears. Many existing Chinese visitors are queuing up with the Indonesian authority appealing for extended stay. Panic buying has also hit the capital city, Jakarta. As the first reported cases of COVID-19 was announced by the government at 3 March. In Malaysia, economists predicted that the outbreak would affect the country's GDP, trade and investment flows, commodity prices and tourist arrivals. Initially, the cycling race event Le Tour de Langkawi was rumoured to be cancelled, but the organiser stated that it would continue to be held as usual. Despite this, two cycling teams, the Hengxiang Cycling Team and the Giant Cycling Team, both from China, were pulled from participating in this race due to fear of the coronavirus pandemic. As the outbreak situation has worsened, some of the upcoming concerts held in the country, such as
Kenny G Kenneth Bruce Gorelick (born June 5, 1956), known professionally as Kenny G, is an American smooth jazz saxophonist, composer, and producer. His 1986 album ''Duotones'' brought him commercial success. Kenny G is one of the best-selling artis ...
, Jay Chou,
Joey Yung Joey Yung (, ; born 16 June 1980) is a Hong Kong singer and Cantopop diva signed to Emperor Entertainment Group. Since her debut in 1996, Yung has won numerous awards, including the JSG Most Popular Female Singer and Ultimate Best Female ...
,
The Wynners The Wynners are a Hong Kong pop band formed in the 1970s. The group consists of Alan Tam (lead vocals), Kenny Bee (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards), Bennett Pang (lead guitar), Danny Yip (bass), and Anthony Chan (drums). History Beginnin ...
,
Super Junior Super Junior (; stylized in all caps), also known as SJ or SuJu, is a South Korean boy band formed by Lee Soo-man, the founder of SM Entertainment in 2005. They are also dubbed by the media as the "King of Hallyu Wave" due to their promine ...
, Rockaway Festival and Miriam Yeung, were postponed to a future date, and the upcoming Seventeen concert was cancelled. The Philippines reported that its GDP contracted by 9.5% in 2020, its worst contraction since World War II. The last full-year contraction in the country was in 1998 amidst the Asian financial crisis where its GDP grew by −0.5%. The 2020 contraction was also worse than the 7% contraction in 1984. Vietnam, who had clamped down early to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, was expected to be the only country in the South East Asia region that was expected to grow in 2020.


Middle East


= Iran

= On 26 March, Rouhani requested to withdraw 1 billion dollars from
National Development Fund The National Development Fund of Iran (NDFI) ( fa, صندوق توسعه ملی) is Iran's sovereign wealth fund. It was founded in 2011 to supplement the Oil Stabilization Fund. NDFI is independent of the government's budget. Based on Article ...
and Khamenei allowed the withdrawal within eleven days. On 28 March, Rouhani announced that 20% of the country's annual budget would be allocated to fight the virus. The following day, he defended against criticisms of the government's response to the outbreak, saying that he needed to weigh protecting the country's economy that was already affected by US sanctions while fighting the worst outbreak of the region.


= Israel

= At its peak, Israel was one of the world's worst hit countries from the COVID-19 pandemic. By 1 April 2020, the national unemployment rate had reached 24.4 percent. In the month of March alone, more than 844,000 individuals applied for unemployment benefits—90% of whom had been placed on unpaid leave due to the pandemic. Following the world's fastest and most successful vaccination campaigns by far using the Pfizer-BioNTech jab, Israel currently issues 'green passports' for individuals who have received their 2nd vaccine dose; which allow indefinite access to many places and amenities formerly only accessible to those with a negative COVID-19 test result. The subsequent low-infection rates have eased restrictions and the economic tension in the country. As of 29 March 2021; 5,227,689 Israelis have received at least 1 dose of the vaccine, out of which 4,739,694 have had 2 doses. On 30 March 2020, Prime Minister Netanyahu announced an economic rescue package totaling 80 billion shekels ($22 billion), saying that was 6% of the country's GDP. The money will be allocated to health care (10 billion₪); welfare and unemployment (30 billion₪) aid for small and large businesses (32 billion₪), and to financial stimulus (8 billion₪). Israel agreed to pay Russia to send Russian-made
Sputnik V Sputnik V (russian: Спутник V, the brand name from RDIF) or Gam-COVID-Vac (russian: Гам-КОВИД-Вак, the name under which it is legally registered and produced) is an adenovirus viral vector vaccine for COVID-19 developed by ...
vaccine doses to Syria as part of a Russia-mediated prisoner swap agreement. In 2020, Israel's economy shrank by 2.4%, following 3.4% and 3.5% growth in 2019 and 2018 respectively. This is considerably below the Euro-bloc where the economy shrank by 5%.


= Saudi Arabia

= On 27 February, Saudi Arabia halted travel to
Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow v ...
and
Medina Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the Holiest sites in Islam, second-holiest city in Islam, ...
over coronavirus. This has prevented foreigners from reaching the holy city of Mecca and the
Kaaba The Kaaba (, ), also spelled Ka'bah or Kabah, sometimes referred to as al-Kaʿbah al-Musharrafah ( ar, ٱلْكَعْبَة ٱلْمُشَرَّفَة, lit=Honored Ka'bah, links=no, translit=al-Kaʿbah al-Musharrafah), is a building at the c ...
. Travel was also suspended to Muhammad's mosque in Medina. Images of the emptied ''ṣaḥn'' of the
Great Mosque of Mecca , native_name_lang = ar , religious_affiliation = Islam , image = Al-Haram mosque - Flickr - Al Jazeera English.jpg , image_upright = 1.25 , caption = Aerial view of the Great Mosque of Mecca , map ...
, where pilgrims are ordinarily performing the '' tawaf'' around the
Kaaba The Kaaba (, ), also spelled Ka'bah or Kabah, sometimes referred to as al-Kaʿbah al-Musharrafah ( ar, ٱلْكَعْبَة ٱلْمُشَرَّفَة, lit=Honored Ka'bah, links=no, translit=al-Kaʿbah al-Musharrafah), is a building at the c ...
, went viral on social media.


= United Arab Emirates

= The COVID-19 pandemic reportedly pressured the property sector, which has already been dealing with the imbalance between supply and demand for years. Dubai's property firms, Emaar Properties, and DAMAC Properties reported losses following the surge in COVID-19. Emaar reported a 58% loss in net profit while DAMAC Properties reported a net loss of 1.04 billion dirhams in the year 2020. In March 2021, the restrictions on global supply-chain caused a great impact on Dubai's business activities, which were struggling to recover from the impact of the
Covid-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
. The IHS Markit compiled Dubai's Purchasing Managers’ Index that rose to 51 from 50.9 in February 2021, saving from landing in the contraction zone by only one point. The global supply difficulties also led to "constraint profit margins", as the need of demand recovery forced firms to lower output charges.


Jordan

Jordan's
real GDP Real gross domestic product (real GDP) is a macroeconomic measure of the value of economic output adjusted for price changes (i.e. inflation or deflation). This adjustment transforms the money-value measure, nominal GDP, into an index for quantity ...
fell by 1.6% in 2020, with a dramatic reduction in tourism, one of its most crucial economic sectors. The sector's GDP fell by 3%.
SMEs Superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) systems store energy in the magnetic field created by the flow of direct current in a superconducting coil which has been cryogenically cooled to a temperature below its superconducting critical ...
appeared less affected by the pandemic than bigger enterprises. 50% of banks questioned reported an increase in loan supply to SMEs, while 25% reported a reduction. For corporates, the increase in loan supply was 25% and 45% reported a reduction. The country's unemployment rate hit 25% in 2021, the highest in more than 25 years. Macroeconomic stability, however, has been maintained, and the
International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster glo ...
expects modest growth rates for 2022 (2.7%) and 2023 (2.7%) in predictions provided in the October 2021 World Economic Outlook. In the first half of 2021,
real GDP Real gross domestic product (real GDP) is a macroeconomic measure of the value of economic output adjusted for price changes (i.e. inflation or deflation). This adjustment transforms the money-value measure, nominal GDP, into an index for quantity ...
increased by 3.2%.


Europe

In Spain, a large number of exhibitors (including Chinese firms
Huawei Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ( ; ) is a Chinese multinational technology corporation headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. It designs, develops, produces and sells telecommunications equipment, consumer electronics and various sma ...
and Vivo) announced plans to pull out of or reduce their presence at
Mobile World Congress MWC Barcelona (formerly but still commonly referred to as Mobile World Congress) is an annual trade show organised by GSMA, dedicated primarily to the mobile communications industry. The event is held in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain at the ...
, a
wireless Wireless communication (or just wireless, when the context allows) is the transfer of information between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or other continuous guided medium for the transfer. The most ...
industry trade show in
Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
, due to concerns over coronavirus. On 12 February 2020, GSMA CEO John Hoffman announced that the event had been cancelled, as the concerns had made it "impossible" to host. Owing to an increase in the demand for masks, on 1 February most masks were sold out in Portuguese pharmacies. On 4 February, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa admitted that the epidemic of the new coronavirus in China "affects the economic activity of a very powerful economy and thus affects the world's economic activity or could affect". He also admitted the possibility of economic upheavals due to the break in production." On 28 February, the Swiss government has banned all public and private gatherings of more than 1,000 people until 15 March, including forcing through a cancellation of the Geneva International Motor Show. European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services Thierry Breton has asked streaming video services operating in the EU to reduce the amount of bandwidth used by their services to preserve capacity and infrastructure.
Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...
and YouTube havecomplied with this request. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, about 86% of EU enterprises were making investments. In 2021 this remained mostly steady compared to 2020 (81%). EU businesses were optimistic for investment throughout 2022, with 20% more anticipating investment to rise than fall. According to the a survey on investment conducted by the
European Investment Bank The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the European Union's investment bank and is owned by the EU Member States. It is one of the largest supranational lenders in the world. The EIB finances and invests both through equity and debt solution ...
, European firms lost one-quarter of their gross income on average in the second quarter of 2020. The loss was substantially greater than the drop experienced by enterprises during the global financial crisis in 2008 and the European sovereign debt crisis in 2010. The
European Investment Bank The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the European Union's investment bank and is owned by the EU Member States. It is one of the largest supranational lenders in the world. The EIB finances and invests both through equity and debt solution ...
estimates that corporate investment in the EU could fall by between 31% and 52%, even in more favourable scenarios due to the pandemic. They also estimate that even after strong policy intervention, 51–58% of EU firms face liquidity shortfalls after 3 months of lockdown. 34% of enterprises also projected their capacity to fund internal investments to decline in the coming 12 months. The European Investment Bank Group created a €25 billion Pan-European Guarantee fund to help small businesses recover from the COVID-19 crisis. As a result of this guarantee fund, the EIB Group, in partnership with local lenders and national promotional institutions, is able to increase its support to small and medium-sized companies. Small businesses have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and its lockdowns. Many of them also lacked the technological tools to survive in an unprecedented environment. To make things worse, in the European regions most affected by the coronavirus pandemic small businesses are usually less digitalised. Less than 20% of European
small and medium-sized enterprises Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are businesses whose personnel and revenue numbers fall below certain limits. The abbreviation "SME" is used by international organizations such as the World Bank ...
(SMEs) are highly digitalised, whereas almost 50% of large corporations are digitalised, having an economic impact. Small businesses are the engine of the European economy and they play a vital role in our economic recovery and growth. These businesses need financial support for their digitalisation. In response to COVID-19, almost 60% of EU businesses have received financial help – subsidies or other non-repayable aid. Enterprises that incurred sales losses were more likely to get policy help (about 73% received financial assistance, compared to 47% of firms that did not see any sales declines). Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
, 49% of enterprises in the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...
saw a drop in sales in 2021, compared to 21% who saw a boost. Digital businesses withstood the pandemic better than enterprises that were less productive before the crisis. Sales were down more for
Small business Small businesses are types of corporations, partnerships, or sole proprietorships which have fewer employees and/or less annual revenue than a regular-sized business or corporation. Businesses are defined as "small" in terms of being able to ...
es, by at least 25%, than for medium or large businesses. In response to fewer sales, 23% reduced their investment intentions, while just 3% intended to increase their investment. The share of companies that invested dropped from 86% in 2019 to 79% in 2021. Furlough and short-term employment programmes in the European Union kept people employed, while bankruptcy filing rules for businesses were reduced, allowing workers to keep their jobs. A significant portion of businesses benefited from the policy support for the COVID-19 shock across all EU regions. The most prevalent forms of assistance across all areas were subsidies or other non-repayable support measures, including support for furlough programs. Inequality existed across EU regions. Compared to enterprises in less developed regions (40%) or non-cohesion regions (37%) firms in transition regions were less likely to get subsidies (28%). Since the beginning of 2020, EU enterprises that embraced advanced digital technology and invested in becoming more digital during the pandemic have increased the number of employees they employ. After the COVID-19 outbreak, the number of non-digital enterprises that downsized was also greater than the share of non-digital firms that had positive job growth. Non-digital companies had a negative net employment balance. Eastern Europe (together with
Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the fo ...
) saw a dramatic drop in economic activity as a result of COVID-19. GDP in the region fell by 4% on average in 2020, with businesses in contact-intensive service industries being particularly adversely impacted. However, the level of governmental support was vast, with fiscal measures totaling about 6% of GDP. The majority of businesses suffered losses in 2020 and/or 2021, with 13% still predicting that they won't be able to recover from the pandemic-era loss of business until 2022. When compared to the final quarter of 2019, investment levels in several nations decreased or were flat in the second quarter of 2022. Denmark, Italy, Ireland, and Sweden are exceptions, with investment levels increasing by more than 10%. Other nations had drops in investment of up to 13%, such as Slovakia and Bulgaria.


Armenia

The Armenian Government tried to confront the influence of the pandemic by implementing mitigation measures plus a lockdown. This adversely impacted businesses in
Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''O ...
, which either shut down or did not work with the same capacity as before. One of the consequences of this was supply shock. The supply shock caused a sharp decrease in sales. Companies adopted policies like reduction of working hours and wages, and workforce reductions. This led to the reduction in per capita income. The
IMF The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster glob ...
estimated that the contribution of the final consumption expenditure had diminished in 2020 by 2.1% (from 3.3% up to 1.2%). The production decreases led to a drop in corporate tax revenue. Moreover, public expenditures sharply increased to help companies and households. However, this caused a budget deficit and increasing external debt. The financial difficulties caused by the pandemic also affected loan repayments and led to a sharp decrease in savings. The Armenian National Statistical Service mentioned that in the first 3–4 months of 2020, wages were increased by 6.8%, which helped citizens during the pandemic. The United Nations assessed that the loan/GDP ratio, which stood at 52.1% as of September 2020, would lead to an overall decrease in loan portfolio performance, as many loans would go unpaid. The limitations on international travel during the pandemic affected the
international trade International trade is the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories because there is a need or want of goods or services. (see: World economy) In most countries, such trade represents a significa ...
of
goods In economics, goods are items that satisfy human wants and provide utility, for example, to a consumer making a purchase of a satisfying product. A common distinction is made between goods which are transferable, and services, which are not ...
and services. Predictions of the IMF in 2020 assumed that there would be a decline (60% in total) of the influx of the personal
remittance A remittance is a non-commercial transfer of money by a foreign worker, a member of a diaspora community, or a citizen with familial ties abroad, for household income in their home country or homeland. Money sent home by migrants competes wi ...
s and
foreign direct investment A foreign direct investment (FDI) is an investment in the form of a controlling ownership in a business in one country by an entity based in another country. It is thus distinguished from a foreign portfolio investment by a notion of direct c ...
s. Around AMD 26 billion (US$55 million), according to official cost estimates, has been set aside for the implementation of the thirteen social assistance programs. The majority of spending (US$25 million) has gone toward providing salary support to workers in the impacted industry, followed by family benefits (US$15 million) and electricity bill subsidies (US$10 million). Each participant received a one-time benefit of between US$53 and US$270. Because of the pandemic, the economy of Armenia wasn't able to generate enough savings to finance investments. Concurrently, the Armenian economy was unable to generate enough exports to finance the imports, which caused an expanding trade deficit of around US$2.9 billion in 2019. The Covid-19 Pandemic impacted the Armenian economy, and as a result the GDP dropped on average by 5.3% from January to August 2020.


France

On 8 April, the
Bank of France The Bank of France (French: ''Banque de France''), headquartered in Paris, is the central bank of France. Founded in 1800, it began as a private institution for managing state debts and issuing notes. It is responsible for the accounts of the ...
officially declared that the
French economy French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
was in recession, shrinking by 6 percent in the first quarter of 2020.


Germany

According to the
Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York St ...
the outbreak of the novel coronavirus / COVID-19 May contribute to a recession in Germany.


Ireland

By mid-March, nearly 3% of Ireland's population—140,000 people (including 70,000 restaurant staff, 50,000 pub and bar staff)—had lost their jobs due to restrictions brought in to delay the virus's spread. The numbers of people in normally busy
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
areas such as
Grafton Street Grafton Street () is one of the two principal shopping streets in Dublin city centre (the other being Henry Street). It runs from St Stephen's Green in the south (at the highest point of the street) to College Green in the north (the lowes ...
dropped by percentages in the sixties, seventies and eighties. On 16 March, Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection Regina Doherty announced the COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment. Initially available for six weeks, it was extended for another nine weeks on 5 June. On 24 March, the Temporary COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme was announced for a twelve-week run beginning on 26 March. On 15 May, Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation
Heather Humphreys Heather Humphreys (born 14 May 1963) is an Irish Fine Gael politician who has served as Minister for Rural and Community Development and Minister for Social Protection since June 2020. She also briefly served as Minister for Justice in Novembe ...
announced details of a new €250m "Restart Grant" which would give direct grant aid of between €2,000 and €10,000 to small businesses to help them with the costs associated with reopening and re-employing workers following the COVID-19 closures. On 22 May, the
Government of Ireland The Government of Ireland ( ga, Rialtas na hÉireann) is the cabinet that exercises executive authority in Ireland. The Constitution of Ireland vests executive authority in a government which is headed by the , the head of government. The govern ...
had signed off on €6.8 billion in extra funding for the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, as it was due to reach this year's spending limit early the following month. On 23 July, the
Government of Ireland The Government of Ireland ( ga, Rialtas na hÉireann) is the cabinet that exercises executive authority in Ireland. The Constitution of Ireland vests executive authority in a government which is headed by the , the head of government. The govern ...
launched a €7.4 billion
July Jobs Stimulus The July Jobs Stimulus is a €7.4 billion stimulus package announced by the Government of Ireland on 23 July 2020 in response to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland. The package includes 50 measures to ...
package of 50 measures to boost economic recovery and get people back to work. The measures include the extension of the COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment to April 2021, and the replacement of the Temporary COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme to the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme from September 2020 and will run until April 2021. On 7 September, it was announced that Ireland was now officially in recession after the economy shrank by 6.1% between April and June as the impact of COVID-19 brought the largest quarterly drop on record, following new figures published by the Central Statistics Office.


Italy

On 21 February, at least ten towns in the
Lombardy (man), (woman) lmo, lumbard, links=no (man), (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , ...
and
Veneto Veneto (, ; vec, Vèneto ) or Venetia is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about five million, ranking fourth in Italy. The region's capital is Venice while the biggest city is Verona. Veneto was part of the Roman Empire unt ...
regions of Italy, with a total population of 50,000, were locked down in quarantine procedure following an outbreak in the town of Codogno in Lombardy. Police mandated a curfew closing all public buildings and controlling access through police checkpoints to the so-called 'red zone' which is enforced under penalty by fines against trespassers who are not health or supply workers. The government of Italian Prime Minister
Giuseppe Conte Giuseppe Conte (; born 8 August 1964) is an Italian jurist, academic, and politician who served as prime minister of Italy from June 2018 to February 2021. He has been the president of the Five Star Movement (M5S) since August 2021. Cont ...
vowed that sending in "the armed forces" to enforce the lockdown was within possibility. Schools and universities have been closed throughout Northern Italy along with museums, and various festivities, concerts, sporting events and church masses have been cancelled as of 23 February. On 4 March, these closures were extended to all schools and universities nationwide. Sustained panic buying of groceries has reportedly cleared out supermarkets, and several major events were cancelled, such as the annual Carnival of Venice, along with the cancellation of
Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...
football matches on 23 February by the Sports Ministry. Concerns about the Milan Fashion Week has led to several fashion houses declaring that they will only hold broadcast, closed-door shows with no spectators. As of 26 February 2020, there have been 456 coronavirus cases in Italy, 190 of which have been also confirmed by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità. By 12 March 2020, the number of cases in Italy had risen to 15,113, including 1,016 fatalities. On 9 March 2020, Italy declared a nationwide quarantine. Since 10 March 2020, all residents need a special form to be allowed to leave their homes. On 11 March 2020, all shops and businesses were closed except food shops and pharmacies. After the "Sostegni Decree" of 23 March 2021, the Italian government has ended the ban on collective dismissals since 1 July, except for the textile, fashion and footwear economic sectors for which it has been extended until 31 October.


Portugal

Due to an increase in the demand for masks, on 1 February most masks were sold out in Portuguese pharmacies. On 4 February, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the President of the Portuguese Republic, admitted that the epidemic of the new coronavirus in China "affects the economic activity of a very powerful economy and thus affects the world's economic activity or could affect". He also admitted the possibility of economic upheavals due to the break in production."


Turkey

An ongoing economic crisis in Turkey was exacerbated by the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
. Sale of Turkish goods worldwide fell due to the global economic slowdown. President
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician serving as the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as prime minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014 and as mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to ...
cut interest rates in late 2021 in response to a surge in inflation of the
Turkish lira The lira ( tr, Türk lirası; sign: ₺; ISO 4217 code: TRY; abbreviation: TL) is the official currency of Turkey and Northern Cyprus. One lira is divided into one hundred '' kuruş''. History Ottoman lira (1844–1923) The lira, along wi ...
.


United Kingdom

On 13 February, heavy equipment manufacturer JCB announced its plan to reduce working hours and production due to shortages in their supply chain caused by the outbreak. On 5 March, British airline
Flybe Flybe (pronounced ), styled as flybe, is a British airline based at Birmingham Airport, England. History The airline traces its history back to Jersey European Airways, which was set up in 1979 following the merger of Intra Airways and Expre ...
finally collapsed into administration with the loss of 2,000 jobs after failing to secure financial support. The airline said the impact of the coronavirus pandemic is partly to blame for its collapse. Flybe provided more than half of UK domestic flights outside London. During the pandemic, exports of many food and drink products from the UK declined significantly, and that included Scotch whisky. Distillers were required to close for some time and the hospitality industry worldwide experienced a major slump. According to news reports in February 2021, the Scotch whisky sector had experienced £1.1 billion in lost sales. A
BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadc ...
headline on 12 February 2021 summarized the situation: "Scotch whisky exports slump to 'lowest in a decade'". Tourism in the UK (by visitors from both the UK and from other countries) declined substantially due to travel restrictions and lockdowns. For much of 2020, and into 2021, vacation travel was not permitted and entry into the UK was very strictly limited. Business travel, for example, declined by nearly 90% over previous years. This not only affected revenue from tourism but also led to numerous job losses.


North America


Canada

On 4 March, Canadian Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since ...
announced the creation of a new cabinet committee to manage the federal response to the coronavirus disease. A week later, on 11 March, the government announced a billion COVID-19 Response Fund that included a $50 million contribution to the
World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level o ...
and an additional $275 million to fund coronavirus research in Canada. On 13 March, the
Bank of Canada The Bank of Canada (BoC; french: Banque du Canada) is a Crown corporation and Canada's central bank. Chartered in 1934 under the ''Bank of Canada Act'', it is responsible for formulating Canada's monetary policy,OECD. OECD Economic Surveys: C ...
lowered the overnight rate target by 50 basis points to 0.75 percent in an unscheduled rate decision citing the "negative shocks to Canada's economy arising from the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent sharp drop in oil prices." In June 2020, Canada lost its triple "A" credit rating.


Mexico

The National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) said the unemployment rate in Mexico increased from 3.6% in January 2020 to 3.7% in February 2020. The informal sector increased to 56.3% in February compared to 56.0% in February 2019. Fewer than half of Mexicans have paid sick leave or health care.
BBVA México BBVA México is the largest Mexican financial institution (2021), having about 20% of the market. Founded in 1932 as Banco de Comercio (Bancomer), and rebranded from 2000 to 2019 as BBVA Bancomer, its main stockholder is the Spanish bank BBVA. It ...
predicted a 4.5% economic contraction in 2020, while analysts at
Capital Economics Capital Economics is an independent economic research business based in London. The company produces written pieces of economic research as well as offering consultancy services, seminars, conferences and commissioned research projects. In 2012 i ...
in London argued that the government had to do more to support the economy. They forecast a 6% contraction in 2020. HR Ratings, Latin America's first credit rating agency, said that the performance of the economy would depend on the government's response to the COVID-19 crisis. The
Mexican Stock Exchange The Mexican Stock Exchange ( es, Bolsa Mexicana de Valores), commonly known as Mexican Bolsa, Mexbol, or BMV, is one of two stock exchanges in Mexico, the other being BIVA - Bolsa Institucional de Valores. It is the second largest stock exchange ...
fell to a record low on 10 March due to fears of the coronavirus and because of falling oil prices. The Bank of Mexico (Banxico) stepped in to prop up the value of the peso, which fell 14%. World markets are seeing falls similar to those of 1987. The ''Consejo Nacional Empresarial Turístico'' (National Tourism Business Council, CNET) sent two letters in March to
Alfonso Romo Alfonso Carlos Romo Garza (born 8 October 1950), known as Alfonso Romo, is a Monterrey businessman, agro-industrialist. He founded the ''Opción Ciudadana'' (Citizen Option) party in 2005. He is the owner of VECTOR Casa de Bolsa, the largest fun ...
, Chief of Staff to the
President of Mexico The president of Mexico ( es, link=no, Presidente de México), officially the president of the United Mexican States ( es, link=no, Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos), is the head of state and head of government of Mexico. Under the ...
, outlining the importance of tourism to the economy and asking for government support for the sector. Tourism provides 4 million jobs in Mexico, and 93% of the companies have ten or fewer employees. COVID-19 forced the closure of 4,000 hotels (52,400 rooms) and 2,000 restaurants, while the airline industry lost MXN $30 billion (US$1.3 billion) through March. The association of car dealers, ADMA, predicted a decrease in domestic sales between 16% and 25% in 2020.


Panama

COVID-19 is expected to subtract US$5.8 billion from Panama's GDP.


United States

The viral outbreak was cited by many companies in their briefings to shareholders, but several maintained confidence that they would not be too adversely affected by short-term disruption due to "limited" exposure to the Chinese consumer market. Those with manufacturing lines in mainland China warned about possible exposure to supply shortages, while others cautioned that large corporations and the wealthy could exploit the crisis for economic gain in line with
the Shock Doctrine ''The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism'' is a 2007 book by the Canadian author and social activist Naomi Klein. In the book, Klein argues that neoliberal free market policies (as advocated by the economist Milton Friedman) have ri ...
, as has occurred after past pandemics Silicon Valley representatives expressed worries about serious disruption to production lines, as much of the technology sector relies on factories in mainland China. Since there had been a scheduled holiday over Lunar New Year, the full effects of the outbreak on the tech sector were considered to be unknown , according to ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
''. Cities with high populations of Chinese residents have seen an increase in demand for face masks to protect against the virus; many are purchasing masks to mail to relatives in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau, where there is a shortage of masks. , many stores in the United States had sold out of masks. This mask shortage has caused an increase in prices. Universities in the United States have warned about a significant impact on their income due to a large number of Chinese international students potentially unable to attend classes. ''The Washington Post'' reported in February that President Donald Trump told advisors that he did not want the government to say or do anything that might spook the stock market, on concerns a large-scale outbreak could hurt his reelection chances. On 26 February, ''The New York Times'' (NYT) reported a case in California which the
Center for Disease Control The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgi ...
confirmed as the first possible community transmission of coronavirus in the United States. On 27 February, the NYT reported delay in diagnosis of the community transmission case in California. A later article in the NYT on 27 February discussed a
whistleblower A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...
's allegation's of the ineptitude of preparedness at Travis Air Force Base near Fairfield, California and
March Air Reserve Base March Air Reserve Base (March ARB), previously known as March Air Force Base (March AFB) is located in Riverside County, California between the cities of Riverside, Moreno Valley, and Perris. It is the home to the Air Force Reserve Command's ...
in
Riverside County, California Riverside County is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,418,185, making it the fourth-most populous county in California and the 10th-most populous in the Uni ...
to receive possible coronavirus transmitters for diagnosis and treatment. The same day, a report by
Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, Ho ...
forecast that it believes American companies "will generate no earnings growth in 2020," wiping out an earnings recovery that was expected for the year after "lackluster profit reports for most of 2019" On 27 February, U.S. stocks were on their way to the largest loss for a week since 2008, and the
Dow Jones Industrial Average The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), Dow Jones, or simply the Dow (), is a stock market index of 30 prominent companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. The DJIA is one of the oldest and most commonly followed equity inde ...
fell 1190 points in one day. On 28 February the average dropped below 25000 briefly. The Dow Jones ended the week down 12.4 percent, the
S&P 500 Index The Standard and Poor's 500, or simply the S&P 500, is a stock market index tracking the stock performance of 500 large companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. It is one of the most commonly followed equity indices. As of D ...
11.5 percent, and the
Nasdaq Composite The Nasdaq Composite ( ticker symbol ^IXIC) is a stock market index that includes almost all stocks listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Along with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500, it is one of the three most-followed stock market ind ...
down 10.5 percent. Stocks fell to 18,592 points (Dow average) on 23 March after a procedural Senate vote on a coronavirus economic stimulus bill failed for the second time in two days. On 7 March, US stocks fell by 7 percent, triggering a temporary halt in trading, which was also aided by the 2020 Russia–Saudi Arabia oil price war. On the evening of 11 March, the
National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues i ...
announced that the rest of its season would be suspended indefinitely, and the
National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...
(NCAA) announced that its men's and
women's A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardle ...
basketball tournaments would be played without fans. The following day, the NCAA initially announced that it would cancel the basketball tournaments, but later that day announced that all championship events throughout all sports would be cancelled until 2020–21.
Deep South The Deep South or the Lower South is a cultural and geographic subregion in the Southern United States. The term was first used to describe the states most dependent on plantations and slavery prior to the American Civil War. Following the wa ...
states such as Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana reported on April6 that 70% of its reported deaths had involved African Americans. It has been acknowledged that African Americans were more likely to have poor
living conditions Habitability refers to the adequacy of an environment for human living. Where housing is concerned, there are generally local ordinances which define habitability. If a residence complies with those laws it is said to be habitable. In extreme e ...
(including dense urban environments and
poverty Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse
), employment instability, chronic comorbidities influenced by these conditions, and little to no
health insurance Health insurance or medical insurance (also known as medical aid in South Africa) is a type of insurance that covers the whole or a part of the risk of a person incurring medical expenses. As with other types of insurance, risk is shared among m ...
coverage—factors which can all exacerbate its impact. In April, nearly a quarter of residents (renters and homeowners) did not pay full housing costs. Some did not pay rent/mortgage at all, while others did not make full payment. The difficulties experienced by many tenants during the pandemic have sparked a movement to cancel rent, which is advocated by some activists, organizations, and politicians. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, male unemployment increased sharply from 3.55 million in February to 11 million in April 2020, while female unemployment (lower than the pre-crisis men's) rose from 2.7 million to 11.5 million in the same period. In early May, a Washington Post-Ipsos poll revealed racial disparities between adult workers who were laid off or furloughed since the beginning of the outbreak: layoffs affected 20 percent of Hispanic workers, 16 percent of black workers, 11 percent of white workers, and 12 percent of workers of other races. Many workers were furloughed or laid off as a result of business and school closures and the cancellation of public events. During April more than 20 million Americans filed for unemployment insurance, an all-time record, and the national unemployment rate was reported as 14.7% – the highest monthly rate since record keeping was begun in 1948. The rise in unemployment may have contributed to protracted nationwide civil unrest. For first quarter 2020, health care spending dropped 18 percent. 42,000 health care workers lost their jobs in March, and 1.4 million in April, as most hospitals postponed non-essential procedures. People who were left ended up doing the jobs of others who were furloughed. Although the United States government is the world's largest borrower, credit card debt in the country fell below $1 trillion in May 2020 for the first time since May 2011, declining for the previous three months. This was due to a decrease in both personal income and disposible personal income while personal savings rates nearly doubled. A job reports validated the decline after indicating that three million jobs were added in June 2020, compared to the 20 million jobs lost throughout the pandemic. In a ''Business Economics'' article that was published on 7 December 2020 and won NABE's 2020 Edmund A. Mennis Contributed Paper Award, Xiaobing Shu, Christine Chmura & James Stinchcomb claimed that "COVID-19 has caused a significant decline in labor demand, by as much as 30%, measured by the number of job advertisements. But the pandemic did not result in noticeable changes in advertised wages." In December 2020, economist David Choi at Goldman Sachs argued that the U.S. economy would recover faster than expected as impact on the parts of the economy most susceptible to the recent coronavirus spread weren't being affected as severely. On the flipside, Alejandra Grindal at Ned Davis Research, argued that the economy could get worse if the pandemic worsens prior to the deployment of vaccines in Q2 2021, after which the economy would see "a pretty sharp recovery not only in U.S. economic activity, but also global economic activity". Nearly 20 million adults – 9 percent of all adults in the country – reported that their household sometimes or often didn't have enough to eat in the last seven days, according to Household Pulse Survey data collected 29 September – 11 October 2021. When asked why, 82 percent said they "couldn’t afford to buy more food," rather than (or in addition to) non-financial factors such as lack of transportation or safety concerns due to the pandemic. Even consumers with jobs have stopped spending. Retail sales plunged 20 percent from February to April, with very large declines in categories like clothing and accessory stores (down 89 percent) and department stores (down 45 percent). The personal saving rate jumped to 33 percent in March from 8 percent in February. Unemployment increased significantly in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, in the United States, most enterprises that adopted advanced digital technologies were able to avert worker reductions more significantly than firms who did not digitally adapt.


South America

Latin American and Caribbean countries were already facing low economic growth before COVID-19, with the region averaging 0.4% of growth in 2019, due to what was described as "a vicious circle of low-quality jobs, deficient social protection and volatile incomes" with one out of five in the ages of 14–25 being unable to find a job. The economic impact caused by COVID-19 was exarcebated by many countries' lack of reserve funds for times of crisis. Between 35 and 50 million people in the region are expected to fall below the poverty line, which is set at US$5.60 per day. Exports have also been affected and many countries are expected to fall further into debt. The LAC region is experiencing the biggest contraction in the emerging markets and developing economies. The IMF World Economic Outlook has reported a GDP contraction of 8.1 per cent in Latin America in 2020. Unfortunately, since 2014, the region has been experiencing the weakest period of growth since 1950.


Argentina

On 19 March, Argentina entered a nationwide lockdown. The Argentine government announced the extension of the lockdown, originally intended to end on 31 March until mid-April. On 10 April, President Alberto Fernández announced that the lockdown would be extended in major cities until 26 April. In response to the economic halt, on 24 March, the executive decreed the payment of a one-time welfare benefit to the lowest earning self-employed taxpayers left with no sources of income in their household. On 22 September, official reports showed a record 19% year-on-year drop in the GDP for the second quarter of 2020, the biggest drop in the country's history. Investment fell 38% from the previous year.


Brazil

Two Brazilian banks predicted the deceleration of economic growth in China.
UBS UBS Group AG is a multinational investment bank and financial services company founded and based in Switzerland. Co-headquartered in the cities of Zürich and Basel, it maintains a presence in all major financial centres as the largest Swi ...
has reviewed its estimations from 6% to 5.9%, while Itaú stated a reduction to 5.8%. A representative of some of the bigger Brazilian companies of the electronics sector, Eletros, stated that the current stock for the supply of components is enough for around 10 to 15 days. The prices of soybeans, oil, and iron ore have been falling. These three goods represent 30%, 24% and 21% of the Brazilian exports to China, respectively.


Chile

Aiding Chile's downfall is reduced demand for copper from the US and China due to COVID-19.


Africa

Prior to the pandemic, average public debt in Africa was predicted to progressively drop. Instead, average net government debt increased by 2 percentage points in 2020, reaching 61% GDP. The surge in
Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...
was significantly greater, with over 6 percentage points on average. Countries are suffering increasing debt payment expenses as a result of this rising debt burden. Some countries have lost complete access to the global markets thus becoming reliant on relatively limited internal resources and concessional finance.
Microfinance Microfinance is a category of financial services targeting individuals and small businesses who lack access to conventional banking and related services. Microfinance includes microcredit, the provision of small loans to poor clients; savings ...
services are provided by
commercial bank A commercial bank is a financial institution which accepts deposits from the public and gives loans for the purposes of consumption and investment to make profit. It can also refer to a bank, or a division of a large bank, which deals with ...
s, commercial and regulatory microfinance institutions, informal providers, and non-governmental organizations. One of the responses of Africa's microfinance institutions to the COVID-19 crisis was to increase reliance on digital channels to support borrowers. The
European Investment Bank The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the European Union's investment bank and is owned by the EU Member States. It is one of the largest supranational lenders in the world. The EIB finances and invests both through equity and debt solution ...
, with the help of the Making Finance Work for Africa Partnership (MFW4A), conducted the Banking in Africa survey in early 2021. 78 banks in Sub-Saharan Africa were surveyed. The banks that took part control nearly 30% of the continent's assets. The results showed that almost two-thirds of the Banks surveyed tightened lending rules in 2020 – 2021. More than 80% expanded their restructuring or loan moratoriums. According to the
European Investment Bank The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the European Union's investment bank and is owned by the EU Member States. It is one of the largest supranational lenders in the world. The EIB finances and invests both through equity and debt solution ...
's Banking in Africa study 2021, digital offerings by Sub-Saharan African banks are increasing, especially as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The majority of the banks polled said that the pandemic has accelerated the speed of digital transformation, and that this change is permanent. 89% of the banks polled claimed that the pandemic has hastened the digital transformation of their internal operations; the same percentage believes that the consumer movement toward digital channels will continue once the virus has ended. Few banks were required to modify their employee levels, while slightly under one-third adjusted their prices. Approximately half of the answering banks had employed guarantees, the majority of which came from the central bank, the government, or an international financial institution. During the first half of 2020, the cost of overseas borrowing climbed dramatically. However, at the beginning of the pandemic, banks were well capitalized, thus they were able to resist liquidity challenges. Around 88% of enterprises in countries where COVID-19 follow-up surveys were conducted (three in Southern Africa, one in East Africa, four in West Africa, and one in North Africa) were suffering diminished liquidity, with more than 55% of them closing temporarily during the COVID-19 pandemic. Almost 8% had declared bankruptcy, and 26% of enterprises are past due on financial institution commitments. Firms that depend on equity are at 36%. rather than depending on commercial bank loans to address cash flow issues, these are more likely to succeed at 16%. The
International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster glo ...
predicts that average growth in the African continent would return to 4.5% in 2021 and 4.0% in 2022. All economies except the Comoros are expected to increase in 2021. However, large differences in growth rates are expected, between 0.2% in the Republic of the Congo and 7.6% in Kenya in 2021.


Oceania


Australia

Australia is expected to be heavily affected by the epidemic, with early estimations have GDP contracting by 0.2% to 0.5% and more than 20,000 Australian jobs being lost. The Australian
Treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury ...
, Josh Frydenberg said that the country would no longer be able to promise a
budget surplus A balanced budget (particularly that of a government) is a budget in which revenues are equal to expenditures. Thus, neither a budget deficit nor a budget surplus exists (the accounts "balance"). More generally, it is a budget that has no budget ...
due to the outbreak. The Australian dollar dropped to its lowest value since the
Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...
. The
Australasian College for Emergency Medicine The Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM), based in Melbourne Australia, is the primary training body for specialist emergency physicians in Australia and New Zealand. The college is recognised by the Australian Medical Council an ...
called for a calm and a fact-based response to the epidemic, asking people to avoid racism, "panic and division" and the spread of misinformation. A large amount of protective face masks were purchased by foreign and domestic buyers, which has sparked a nationwide face masks shortage. In response to price increases of nearly 2000%, the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia has called on these "unethical suppliers" to keep supplies affordable. Tourism bodies have suggested that the total economic cost to the sector, as of 11 February 2020, would be A$4.5 billion. Casino earnings are expected to fall. At least two localities in Australia,
Cairns Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...
and the Gold Coast, have reported already lost earnings of more that $600 million. The Australian Tourism Industry Council (ATIC) called on the Government of Australia for financial support especially in light of the large number of small businesses affected. Mining companies are thought to be highly exposed to the outbreak, since sales to China constitute 93% of the sales of Fortescue Metals, 55% of the sales of BHP, and 45% of the sales of Rio Tinto. The iron ore shipping gauge dropped 99.9% as a result of the outbreak, and the virus has made shipping and logistic operations of mining companies more complicated. Agriculture is also experiencing negative effects from the outbreak, including the Australian dairy industry, fishing industry, wine producers, and meat producers. On 13 February 2020,
Rabobank Rabobank (; full name: ''Coöperatieve Rabobank U.A.'') is a Dutch multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Utrecht, Netherlands. The group comprises 89 local Dutch Rabobanks (2019), a central organisation (Raboban ...
, which specialises in agricultural banking, warned that the agricultural sector had eight weeks for the coronavirus to be contained before facing major losses. Exports were also affected by the outbreak. In May, China—which is Australia's largest trading partner—stopped accepting Australian meat and placed tariffs on Australian barley, likely a punitive response to Australia's call for an investigation into the origin of the global pandemic. The education sector is expected to suffer a US$5 billion loss according to an early government estimate, including costs due to "tuition fee refunds, free deferral of study, realignment of teaching calendars and student accommodation costs." The taxpayer is likely to be required to cover the shortfall in education budgets. An estimated 100,000 students were not able to enroll at the start of the semester. Nearly two-thirds of Chinese students were forced to remain overseas due to visa restrictions on travellers from mainland China. Salvatore Babones, associate professor at the University of Sydney, stated that "Australia will remain an attractive study destination for Chinese students, but it may take several years for Chinese student numbers to recover".


See also

* COVID-19 recession * Contactless payment *
Distance learning Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at a school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance. Traditionally, this usually in ...
* Financial market impact of the COVID-19 pandemic *
Remote work Remote work, also called work from home (WFH), work from anywhere, telework, remote job, mobile work, and distance work is an employment arrangement in which employees do not commute to a central place of work, such as an office building, ware ...
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Shortages related to the COVID-19 pandemic In economics, a shortage or excess demand is a situation in which the demand for a product or service exceeds its supply in a market. It is the opposite of an excess supply (surplus). Definitions In a perfect market (one that matches ...


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