WASHINGTON, April 14. /TASS/. The global economy will decline by 3% in 2020 but will show growth by 5.8% in the next year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) says in its World Economic Outlook released on Tuesday.

"As a result of the pandemic, the global economy is projected to contract sharply by -3% in 2020, much worse than during the 2008-09 financial crisis," IMF says. "In a baseline scenario, which assumes that the pandemic fades in the second half of 2020 and containment efforts can be gradually unwound, the global economy is projected to grow by 5.8% in 2021 as economic activity normalizes, helped by policy support," the Fund reports.

At the same time, "there is extreme uncertainty around the global growth forecast. The economic fallout depends on factors that interact in ways that are hard to predict, including the pathway of the pandemic, the intensity and efficacy of containment efforts, the extent of supply disruptions, the repercussions of the dramatic tightening in global financial market conditions, shifts in spending patterns, behavioral changes (such as people avoiding shopping malls and public transportation), confidence effects, and volatile commodity prices," the report reads.

"Many countries face a multi-layered crisis comprising a health shock, domestic economic disruptions, plummeting external demand, capital flow reversals, and a collapse in commodity prices. Risks of a worse outcome predominate," IMF experts note.

"It is very likely that this year the global economy will experience its worst recession since the Great Depression, surpassing that seen during the global financial crisis a decade ago," IMF Economic Counselor Gita Gopinath says in the foreword to the report.