Global economy seen to contract 4% this year: poll

Business lobby groups in 18 countries forecast the global economy to contract 4 percent this year due to the impact of the new coronavirus outbreak, a South Korean industry association said Sunday.

The 4 percent negative growth outlook is worse than the International Monetary Fund's forecast of a 3 percent contraction for the year and better than the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's 5.1 percent contraction, the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) said in a statement. 

In FKI's poll of economic associations in 18 countries, including the United States and Japan, more than 50 percent of them expected another worldwide economic lockdown due to a possible second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic later this year, the statement said.  

Half the countries expected the global economy to rebound in April 2021 and return to normal in late 2022.

They also said manufacturers are expected to reduce production in China and other emerging countries to avoid any major disruptions in supply chains that took place due to the coronavirus outbreak this year.

The pandemic, which surfaced in China late last year, has killed more than 390,000 people worldwide and infected nearly 6.7 million in just a few months, a tally from Johns Hopkins University showed. (Yonhap)