Coronavirus: world faces ‘similar economic shocks’ to China as global lockdowns escalate

A series of grim economic numbers from China have given the world a glimpse of what might lie ahead, as countries embark on draconian coronavirus containment measures. The Chinese economy went into free fall over the first two months of the year, data released on Monday showed, with
industry, retail and investment all shrinking for the first time in history, each by double-digits.

And while the slump was quite well telegraphed in advance surveys, such as the purchasing managers’ indices, the numbers were still much worse than the average forecast. The data came on the same day that coronavirus deaths outside China surpassed those inside, and as American efforts to arrest the economic impact by slashing interest rates to zero fell flat, with markets continuing to plunge around the globe.

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