World economy could contract by 11% in first-half 2020: Blackrock managing director

DUBAI (Reuters) – Blackrock’s managing director Amer Bisat said on Wednesday that the world economy could contract by 11% in the first half of 2020 and lose $6 trillion in economic output due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Conservatively, 5 million jobs could be lost in that period and it would be worse when taking into account under-employment, reduced hours and reduced wages, Bisat said during a virtual panel discussion moderated by the Carnegie Middle East Center.

(Reporting by Yousef Saba and Davide Barbuscia; Editing by Catherine Evans)