COVID-ized economies at the age of a global pandemic
Despite the production and distribution of vaccines, most people are still
wondering what recovery could look like as far as the economic sphere is concerned.
The pandemic’s spread has weakened businesses while compelling governments to take
new lockdown measures. Here is some data to help you better understand the virus’
economic impact thus far.
'World faces worst recession since Great Depression'
The FTSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Shanghai and the Nikkei fell
considerably as the number of Covid-19 cases exploded in the first months of the crisis.
Whereas major American and Asian stock markets slightly recovered following the
announcement of the first vaccine in early November; the FTSE remained negative and even
dropped by 15% in 2020 marking its worst evolution since 2008. Moreover, many people
have lost their jobs or seen their incomes reduced; causing unemployment rates to increase
across major economies. For example, the proportion of unemployed adults in the US hit a
yearly total of 10% according to the International Monetary Funds. Analysts are therefore
worried that the frequent lockdowns and delays in vaccination waves might cause even more
market volatility.
Travelling and shopping...virtually
Many analysts believe that international travel and tourism won't return to the pre pandemic levels until 2025. The travel industry has been strongly damaged: airlines cut flights, companies suspended business trips and customers canceled holidays. On top of that, newly discovered variants of the virus have forced many countries to introduce tighter travel restrictions. In 2020, the number of flights globally took a huge hit while reservations in all the common travel destinations registered a fall.
Global tourism chart (weekly percentage change in the number of reservations):
Consumers are still feeling anxious about their return to stores. Indeed, 70% customers are no longer willing to travel more than 5 kilometers for shopping. This change in consumption behavior has significantly boosted online retail which held 4 trillion dollars in 2020.
Pharmaceutical companies at the top
Governors around the world have spent billions of dollars for the development of a vaccine to tackle the on-going pandemic. Shares in some vaccine-development pharmaceutical companies (Moderna, Novavax, AstraZeneca) have therefore skyrocketed. Many laboratories have already started distributing doses and a number of countries have started their vaccination programs; including Morocco recently. More pharmaceutical firms, such as Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi and GSK, will also join the vaccine distribution in 2021.
Pharmaceutical firms chart:
