OREANDA-NEWS. The international agency Fitch Ratings downgraded the forecast for a fall in global gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020 to 3.9 %, which is a half of the previous forecast of 1.9 %. Experts explained this by a “recession unparalleled.”

According to Brian Coulton, Chief Economist of Fitch Ratings, the projected drop will be twice as serious as the 2009 recession and will be the strongest after the World War II. Such a sharp collapse is associated with the spread of coronavirus infection worldwide. “No country or region has been spared from the devastating economic impact of the global pandemic,” the report reads.

According to agency’s estimates, the projected recession will mean a reduction of 2.8 trillion dollars in global economic revenues compared to 2019 and 4.5 trillion dollars compared with the forecast given before the pandemic. According to updated Fitch’s forecast, in the United States GDP will decrease by 5.6 %, in the United Kingdom’s by 6.3%, in the Eurozone by 7 %, in Italy by 8 %, in Russia by 3.3 %.