Covid-19 to be a wrecking ball to Latin American economies

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released a report predicting that the economic crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic is set to be the worst downturn since The Great Depression of 1929. Dubbing the coming recession “The Great Lockdown,” the fund forecasts it as being “much worse than the 2008–2009 financial crisis,” comparing it to the stock market crash of the late 1920s and 1930s which pushed U.S. unemployment to 23 percent.

As far as Brazil’s outlook is concerned, the IMF tips 2020 GDP contraction to reach an eye-watering 6.1 percent, which would be the worst annual result since 1901. With the ultra-liberal agenda of the Jair Bolsonaro government and his Economy Minister Paulo Guedes having struggled to spark significant gains in its first 12 months, the economy was already in a precarious position. The fund suggests The Great Lockdown will have a huge effect on the nation’s growth.

The coming crisis was measured as potentially being twice as large as the global financial crisis of 2008–2009. Despite taking its time to reach Latin America — which enjoyed a...