TIL Desk/Business/New Delhi/ S&P Global Ratings on Wednesday lowered India’s economic growth forecast to 5.2 per cent for 2020, saying the global economy is entering a recession amid the coronavirus pandemic. The agency had earlier projected a growth rate of 5.7 per cent during the 2020 calendar.
“Asia-Pacific economic growth in 2020 will more than halve to less than 3 per cent as the “global economy enters a recession”, S&P said in a statement. “An enormous first-quarter shock in China, shutdowns across the US and Europe, and local virus transmission guarantees a deep recession across Asia-Pacific,” said Shaun Roache, chief Asia-Pacific economist at S&P Global Ratings.
By recession, S&P meant at least two quarters of well below-trend growth sufficient to trigger rising unemployment. “Our estimate of permanent income losses is likely to at least double to more than USD400 billion,” said Roache. As per the statement, external shocks from the fallout of the global viral spread add a new dimension. People flows from the US and Europe will be decimated for at least two quarters, heaping more pressure on the tourism industry.
