washington the global economy which has plunged into a severe contraction will shrink by 52 per cent this year due to the massive shock of the coronavirus pandemic and the shutdown measures to contain it the world bank said on mondaythe covid19 recession is the first since 1870 to be triggered solely by a pandemic world bank president david malpass said in his foreword to the latest edition of the global economic prospect report released on mondayread alsoindias economy to contract by 32 in fiscal year 202021 world bankindias economy will shrink by 32 per cent in the current fiscal the world bank said on monday as it joined a chorus of international agencies that are forecasting a contraction in growth rate due to the coronavirus lockdown halting economic activity the world bank downgraded its projection ofthe speed and depth with which it has struck suggests the possibility of a sluggish recovery that may require policymakers to consider additional interventions he saidfor many emerging markets and developing countries however effective financial support and mitigation measures are particularly hard to achieve because a substantial share of employment is in informal sectors the president of the washingtonbased multilateral lender saidaccording to the report economic activity among advanced economies is anticipated to shrink by 7 per cent in 2020 as domestic demand and supply trade and finance have been severely disruptedemerging markets and developing economies emdes are expected to shrink by 25 per cent this year their first contraction as a group in at least 60 years it saidper capita incomes are expected to decline by 36 per cent which will tip millions of people into extreme poverty this year according to the reportthe blow is hitting hardest in countries where the pandemic has been the most severe and where there is heavy reliance on global trade tourism commodity exports and external financing it saidwhile the magnitude of the disruption will vary from region to region all emdes have vulnerabilities that are magnified by external shocks moreover interruptions in schooling and primary healthcare access are likely to have lasting impacts on human capital development the bank saidmore on covid19coronavirus pandemic complete coveragelockdown 30 whats allowed and whats not in the three zonesits time to mask up and stay safe join tois maskindia campaignmhas guidelines for home isolationtrust the newspaper for your daily verified newsthis is a deeply sobering outlook with the crisis likely to leave longlasting scars and pose major global challenges world bank group vice president for equitable growth finance and institutions ceyla pazarbasioglu saidour first order of business is to address the global health and economic emergency beyond that the global community must unite to find ways to rebuild as robust a recovery as possible to prevent more people from falling into poverty and unemployment he saidworld bank prospects group director ayhan kose said that the covid19 recession is singular in many respects and is likely to be the deepest one in advanced economies since the world warii and the first