UN forecasts Covid-19 to shrink world economy by 3.2%, sharpest since 1930s

The United Nations forecast Wednesday that the Covid-19 pandemic will shrink the world economy by 3.2 per cent this year, the sharpest contraction since the Great Depression in the 1930s.

The UN's mid-year report said the impact of the coronavirus crisis is expected to slash global economic output by nearly $8.5 trillion over the next two years, wiping out nearly all gains of the last four years, news agency PTI reported.

In January, before Covid-19 became a pandemic, the UN had forecast a modest acceleration in growth of 2.5 per cent in 2020.

But UN chief economist Elliott Harris told