Coronavirus pandemic may spark greatest depression

NEW YORK: The shock to the global economy from the coronavirus pandemic has been both faster and more severe than the 2008 global financial crisis (GFC) and even the Great Depression, according to respected analyst Nouriel Roubini.

Stock markets collapsed by 50 percent or more, credit markets froze up, massive bankruptcies followed, unemployment rates soared above 10 percent, and gross domestic product (GDP) contracted at an annualized rate of 10 percent or more during those two previous plagues, he said.