Coronavirus may spark global recession; worst since 2001: Morgan Stanley

A BofA Securities' Fund Manager Survey for March suggests investor sentiment has collapsed on the back of the coronavirus, oil shock, recession, and debt default risk.

Global economy is likely to slip into a recession triggered by the fast-spreading coronavirus (COVID-19) with growth dipping to 0.9 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in 2020, said analysts at Morgan Stanley in a recent report. The global recession, they said, will be deeper than seen in 2001.

“Assuming this outlook of Covid-19, we expect 2020 global growth to dip to 0.9 per cent, the lowest since the global financial crisis (GFC). The global recession this year would be deeper than in 2001. We expect global growth to contract by 0.3 per cent in the first quarter (January – March) of