Economic Loss of the Virus Compared to the 2008 Crisis

Economic Loss of the Virus Compared to the 2008 Crisis

IMF President Kristalina Georgieva commented that the coronavirus epidemic caused a worse and unprecedented economic crisis worldwide than in the 2008 global financial crisis. President Georgieva attended a press conference at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland, with a video conference. Giving the message that the IMF's financial capacity of 1 trillion dollars will help countries damaged by the coronavirus, Georgieva said that over 90 countries have asked for help from the IMF. Georgieva underlined that the weakest countries against coronavirus are economies on the rise and developing countries. "We have never encountered such an increasing demand for emergency funding support so far." commenting that the coronavirus epidemic has created a global economic crisis that is "much worse and unprecedented than the 2008 global financial crisis," he said. Georgieva stressed that the whole world is going through a difficult and dark period, that Coronavirus poses a great risk to the whole world and that for this reason unity is needed to protect the weakest people, "we have never witnessed in the history of the IMF that the world economy has come to such a standstill." FAR BEYOND THE HEALTH CRISIS Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, thanked the IMF for its support to prevent and control the coronavirus pandemic. Ghebreyesus reminded that the number of confirmed cases in the world is 1 million and the number of those who lost their lives is 50 thousand, "but we know that this is far beyond a health crisis. We are all aware of the deep social and economic consequences of the pandemic, "he said. Ghebreyesus said that the debt of some countries should be lowered so that their people can make a living and get rid of the economic collapse, they cooperate with the IMF and the World Bank for this. "We encourage such measures. This crisis requires an unprecedented crisis and unprecedented responsibility," he said.