Global economy may drop more than 5% in case of second pandemic wave

The global economy may decline by more than 5% if the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic occurred, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview with reporters of the Komsomolskaya Pravda publishing house.

The IMF revised its outlook downward for global GDP earlier, which is expected to sink by 4.9% this year and grow by 5.4% next year.

"The global economy may drop by more than 5%," Medvedev said, responding to a question about developments in the event of a second pandemic wave. "Our economy will also sink deeper," he noted.

"However, if the pandemic is able to be dealt with, and we expect that and proactively work for this purpose, then the recovery could be fairly quick," the official added. There are "actually no" other objective causes for a crisis affecting the global and domestic economies, apart from the pandemic or a drop in energy prices, Medvedev added.