Impact of coronavirus on Asia to be severe: IMF

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says Asia’s economic growth this year will come to a halt for the first time in 60 years, reports BBC.

The lack of growth will be “worse than the annual average growth rates throughout the Global Financial Crisis (4.7%) or the Asian Financial Crisis (1.3%)”, it said.

The IMF added that if containment policies are effective, there will be a rebound in growth in 2021.

The warning comes just days after the World Bank warned South Asia faced its worst economic performance in 40 years because of the virus.