University of Debrecen
Faculty of Economics and Business
Institute of World Economy and International Relations
Department of World Economy and International Business
COVID-19 AND THE ENSUING ECONOMIC DOWNTURN
WORLDWIDE
Ekacharo Otobha Egbara
MSc in International Economy and Business
Subject: Research Methodology
Debrecen
2020
INTRODUCTION
Economic growth has been drastically regressed by decades since the start of the COVID-19
pandemic. Many jobs have ceased to exist, demand for products and services have reduced
by a major percentage thereby reducing the supply for them and the national income.
Developing countries that relied on export of non-COVID-19 essential resources have been
forced to explore other potential sources of income as the petroleum, hospitality and skilled
labour industries have reduced to a snail-like pace.
Prospects for economic growth have been severely damaged. Many emerging and developing
economies were already experiencing weaker growth before this crisis; the shock of COVID19 now makes the challenges these economies face even harder (World Bank ,2020). The
economic effects of the global pandemic have not been fully known as the movements of
people and goods are still been restricted.
I chose this topic because it is the most prevalent issue in the world today, having the most
severe impact on the daily lives of everyone in the world in multiple ways, not just
economically. It has affected me directly as a citizen of Nigeria, an OPEC member. The
Naira has doubled against the dollar since the start of the pandemic because the projected sale
of Nigeria’s major export, crude oil, has been hampered by the global pandemic.
DATES AND METHODS
KEYWORDS
• COVID-19 worldwide poverty
• COVID-19 economic impact
• COVID-19 tourism industry
• OPEC coronavirus
• COVID-19 petroleum industry
SOURCES/DATABASES
• UDiscover
• Ebsco
• Science Direct
• Google economic scholarly articles
These databases were used because of the high quality of articles that the contained. There
was also the freedom to narrow the search by industry, time period, and by the key words.
The research found in these databases is narrowed down to be as accurate as possible and
give an in depth view of the topic being written about.
RESULTS
There is no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic has set economies of developing nations
back by up to 3 decades as it has put almost a complete halt to the movement of people and
goods locally and nationally. This restriction has plunged the world into a recession whose
full effects are not yet known.
“The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to push between 88 and 115 million people into extreme
poverty in 2020, setting back poverty reduction by around three years. Using the data and
projections available now, it appears that COVID-19 has already been the worst reversal on
the path towards the goal of global poverty reduction in at least the last three decades”
(LAKNER et al. ,2020).
Economic recovery will be made but it will take a lot of time and effort on a global scale. The
introduction of the vaccine will fast-track this recovery as it will reintroduce the movement
of people and goods needed for economic growth.
There is still ongoing monitoring of markets and countries and adjustments are being made
where necessary.
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