The Global Economic Outlook report for 2021 expected that the coming year will be one dominated by the rapid deployment of effective vaccines and the effects of the massive policies and stimulus packages.
The report showed that with the major European economies starting new lockdown measures throughout their territories, and the United States registering new records in the number of daily corona cases, the last quarter of 2020 may witness a decline in real GDP, followed by an uncertain path in 2021, indicating that the next year may start with a weak first quarter in the northern hemisphere as the virus continues to spread, followed by a relatively strong recovery thanks to the massive fiscal stimulus policies adopted by central banks and governments around the developed world, especially if a vaccine becomes available.
According to the report, given that the distribution of sufficient numbers of vaccine doses will take most of the first half of 2021, it is not expected that life will return to normal until the second half of the year, revealing that once a broad conviction is formed that life will return to its normal course, and consumers and the service sector regain confidence, a major shift in the economic environment is expected, which stands in stark contrast to the post-global financial crisis, which was characterized by a weak and sub-average recovery for a long time, and the main reason behind the big difference in expectations this time lies in the exceptional stimulus packages that took the form of financial spending and monetary expansion.
Source (Al-Rai Newspaper-Kuwait, Edited)
