We know that the global COVID-19 crisis is hitting firms and individuals very hard in many ways, not least of all financially.  What economic experts and financial organizations saying about this?

On the one hand, Kristalina Georgieva, IMF Chief, points out that there has not been a fiscal crisis this bad for over a hundred years, since the Great Depression.  She believes it to be “the worst crisis since the Great Depression a century ago,” and not only that, but there will likely be lasting damage.

In the space of merely three weeks, 17 million US employees are now hitting the unemployment line.  New York Federal Reserve Bank economists are thus comparing this to a natural disaster (such as a massive earthquake) as a standard financial crisis usually happens over a longer period of time.  However, given that there are not the same physical consequences, it is believed that a faster economic recovery will be more likely.

Former US Treasury Chief Economist and Peterson Institute for International Economics  contributor Karen Dynan – while noting the 20 percent plummet in the US economy in April and May – is predicting a 7.2 percent rebound in the US economy next year, year-over-year.

Further, on the other hand, some economists are predicting a “solid rebound” once people can get back to work.