By Tata Mbunwe
The Coronavirus pandemic has delt shrewdly with the world’s biggest economies with the United States worst hit with a 32.9 percent economic slump.
Economists have predicted that China America’s greatest economic competitor, will supercede the US by 2028 to become the world’s largest economy as the COVID-19 pandemic continues hitting hard on the United States.
China’s sudden rise over the US, thanks to Coronavirus impact, will be against an earlier date of 2033, which was the year initially predicted for China’s economy to overtake that of the US, according to a UK think tank.
The US economy fell by 32.9 percent of its annual rate between April and June this year due to Coronavirus lockdowns, according to a BBC report.
During the first four months of this year, the US economy contracted 9.5 percent. Both exports and imports fell by more than 20 percent compared to last year, while consumer spending – the main driver of the US economy – fell by 10.7 percent, the BBC further states.
By July this year, the US had lost nearly 15 million jobs with more than 1.5 million Americans filing unemployment claims to the country’s Government.
The Chinese economy witnessed a 6.8 percent slump during the first four months of this year as opposed to the 9.5 percent drop in the US economy during the same period.
However, by July, China’s economy bounced back with a 3.2 percent rise as the US economy was still dwindling.
Economists have warned it might take the United States several years to recover from the economic losses ensuing from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the US has recorded 19.2 million cases, with 338,000 deaths while China, where the virus originated, has had just 86,000 infections, with just 4,600 deaths.
With the discovery of the Pfizer vaccine proven to cure the virus, US President Donald Trump expressed optimism in his Christmas message that the virus is being controlled in most parts of the country.
