AKIPRESS.COM - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is pessimistic about the economy for this year, due to the negative impact of the crisis caused by the new coronavirus (Covid-19).

“Covid-19 hit Europe with great ferocity. Although we do not know how long the crisis will last, we know that the economic impact will be severe ”, according to an analysis made by the director of the European Department of the IMF, Poul Thomsen.

“In the largest European economies, non-essential services closed by governments account for about a third of production. This means that each month that these sectors remain closed, they translate into a 3% drop in annual GDP, and that is before taking into account other disruptions and spills to the rest of the economy ”, according to the official, pointing out, even so , that “a deep recession in Europe this year is a foregone conclusion”.

The former IMF head of mission in Portugal writes that in Europe “generally strong social security systems and the social market model will facilitate assistance to companies and families, but there should be no doubt about the complexity of this matter: these systems do not they were built to meet the demands of the magnitude that policy makers now face in Europe ”.

Poul Thomsen argues that “all countries must respond aggressively to this crisis, in a way that is audacious and adjusted to their scale. If there was a time to use existing pillows and policies, it is now ”.