Statsguru: Oil price fall, coronavirus fear trigger global growth concerns

Last week, stock markets around the world saw significant volatility with benchmark indices dropping to multi-year lows. The coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and a sharp plunge in global crude oil prices triggered the fall.

On February 20, there were about 1,000 reported coronavirus cases in 26 countries outside of China with only eight deaths. The number has now soared to over 44,000 cases with 1,440 deaths across 117 countries, according to the World Health Organization (Chart 1). Fears that the spread of COVID-19 would push the global economy into recession have led to extreme risk aversion among investors.

This, coupled with the rift