economic impact of the covid-19 pandemic economic impact of the covid-19 pandemic the covid-19 pandemic has had far-reaching economic consequences including the covid-19 recession, the second largest global recession in recent history, decreased business in the services sector during the covid-19 lockdowns, the 2020 stock market crash, which included the largest single-week stock market decline since the financial crisis of 2007–2008 and the impact of covid-19 on financial markets, the 2021–2022 global supply chain crisis, the 2021–2022 inflation surge, shortages related to the covid-19 pandemic including the 2020–present global chip shortage, panic buying, and price gouging. it led to governments providing an unprecedented amount of stimulus. the pandemic was also a factor in the 2021–2022 global energy crisis and 2022 food crises. part of a series on thecovid-19 pandemicscientifically accurate atomic model of the external structure of sars-cov-2. each "ball" is an atom. covid-19 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industry food security journalism music performing arts retail shipping television us sportscasting programs tourism video games by country canada india ireland malaysia new zealand russia uk us by sport association football baseball basketball combat sports cricket disc golf gaelic games gridiron football ice hockey motorsport rugby league impacts animals black people crime death rates by country disability domestic violence emergency evacuations education female environment hospitals language lgbt community long-term care media coverage mental health symptoms migration military notable deaths other health issues politics diplomacy popular culture protests pregnancy prisons religion catholic church hajj science and technology social media strikes suicides telehealth xenophobia and racism society ireland malaysia new zealand russia uk us covid-19 portal possible instability generated by an outbreak and associated behavioural changes could result in temporary food shortages, price spikes, and disruption to markets. such price rises would be felt most by vulnerable populations who depend on markets for their food as well as those already depending on humanitarian assistance to maintain their livelihoods and food access. as observed in the 2007–2008 world food price crisis, the additional inflationary effect of protectionist policies through import tariffs and export bans could cause a significant increase in the number of people facing severe food insecurity worldwide. many fashion, sport, and technology events have been canceled or have changed to be online. while the monetary impact on the travel and trade industry is yet to be estimated, it is likely to be in the billions and increasing. amidst the recovery and containment, the world economic system is characterized as experiencing significant, broad uncertainty. economic forecasts and consensus among macroeconomics experts show significant disagreement on the overall extent, long-term effects and projected recovery. risk assessments and contingency plans therefore must be taken with a grain of salt, given that there is a wide divergence of opinion. a large general increase in prices was also attributed to the pandemic. in part, the record-high energy prices were driven by a global surge in demand as the world quit the economic recession caused by covid-19, particularly due to strong energy demand in asia. the covid-19 crisis affected worldwide economic activity, resulting in a 7% drop in global commercial commerce in 2020. while gvcs have persisted, several demand and supply mismatches caused by the pandemic have resurfaced throughout the recovery period in 2021 and 2022 and have been spread internationally through trade. during the first wave of the covid-19 pandemic, businesses lost 25% of their revenue and 11% of their workforce, with contact-intensive sectors and smes being particularly heavily impacted. however, considerable policy assistance helped to avert large-scale bankruptcies, with just 4% of enterprises declaring for insolvency or permanently shutting at the time of the covid wave. background movement of wti crude oil price from 2019. the crash started in mid-february 2020. on 20 april 2020, prices dropped below zero for the first time in recorded history. the initial outbreak of the pandemic in china coincided with the chunyun, a major travel season associated with the chinese new year holiday. a number of events involving large crowds were cancelled by national and regional governments, including annual new year festivals, with private companies also independently closing their shops and tourist attractions such as hong kong disneyland and shanghai disneyland. many lunar new year events and tourist attractions were closed to prevent mass gatherings, including the forbidden city in beijing and traditional temple fairs. in 24 of china's 31 provinces, municipalities and regions, authorities extended the new year's holiday to 10 february, instructing most workplaces not to re-open until that date. these regions represented 80% of the country's gdp and 90% of exports. hong kong raised its infectious disease response level to the highest and declared an emergency, closing schools until march and cancelling its new year celebrations. the demand for personal protection equipment has risen 100-fold, according to who director-general tedros adhanom. this demand has led to an increase in prices of up to twenty times the normal price and also induced delays on the supply of medical items for four to six months. overall economic contraction the covid-19 recession is an economic recession happening across the world economy in 2020 due to the covid-19 pandemic. global stock markets experienced their worst crash since 1987, and in the first three months of 2020 the g20 economies fell 3.4% year-on-year. between april and june 2020, the international labour organization estimated that an equivalent of 400 million full-time jobs were lost across the world, and income earned by workers globally fell 10 percent in the first nine months of 2020, equivalent to a loss of over us$3.5 trillion. cambridge university put the cost to the global economy at $82 trillion over five years. when the covid-19 pandemic hit europe, much of europe's investment had been high, but it had unexpectedly slowed. in 2019, overall investment in the european union increased by about 3% over the previous year, surpassing growth in real gdp. investment, like other economic activity, fell drastically as a direct result of lockdown restrictions. this effect was particularly noticeable in the second quarter of 2020, when investment decreased 19% year on year, as most limitations were relaxed by the summer. in 2019, firms already had an unfavorable assessment of the economic situation. overall expectations for sector-specific business prospects, as well as the availability of internal and external funding, deteriorated in the course of 2020. in the european investment bank investment report 2020–21, 81% of the respondents cited uncertainty as the most severe obstacle to investment. 20% of eu companies anticipate a permanent loss in employment, indicating that a sizable proportion of firms are pessimistic about their capacity to "bounce back" once the covid-19 crisis has passed. as a result of the pandemic, half of european companies anticipate an increase in the usage of digital technologies in the future. the proportion is considerably greater among companies that have previously used digital technology. the european union's public debt is expected to exceed 95% of gdp by the end of 2021, a 15 percentage point rise since the pandemic began in 2019. from the first to the second quarter of 2020, the eu government debt grew by 8.4 percentage points to 88% of gdp. according to the european commission, debt to gdp reached 94% by the end of 2020. in autumn 2020, a second wave of infection and lockdowns aggravated the problem. after one year of the covid-19 crisis, corporate investment was expected to decline by at least 25%. the international monetary fund (imf) and other organizations predicted that the european union's gdp would contract by 6% to 8%, a drop unprecedented since the great depression. the european union's total real gdp fall was more than 11% compared to the first quarter of 2020, the biggest drop in a single quarter on record. the reduction in gdp was caused by government attempts to restrict the virus's spread, and it varied greatly between member states. it was weakest, on average, in central and eastern europe, where real gdp decreased 9.7% in the second quarter compared to the first. it decreased by 11.5% in western and northern europe, and by roughly 15% in southern europe. in comparison, real gdp in the united states fell by nearly 9% in the second quarter compared to the first quarter. in the second quarter of 2020, disposable income per capita decreased dramatically, affecting consumer expenditure, particularly for lower-income families. the impact of the covid-19 varied greatly on the industry. sectors that rely heavily on physical presence, including passenger transportation, the arts, entertainment, tourism, and hospitality, were impacted the worst, with declines of up to 30% in the second quarter of 2020 compared to the first quarter. industries such as agriculture, banking, and real estate, declined by 3% or less during the same time span. during the global financial crisis, the distribution of economic effect across sectors was extremely varied, with eu manufacturing suffering the worst decrease – over 20% in the first quarter of 2009. the decrease in other sectors was relatively limited, at around or below 6%. gdp per hour in the eu grew by 0.3 percent in the second quarter of 2020 compared to the same time in 2019, while gdp per employee decreased 11.5%. access to capital is seen as a barrier by about 55% of businesses. credit limitations are especially difficult for smes and new businesses to overcome. credit constraints affect 24% of smes and 27% of young businesses. more than two-fifths of businesses (44%) did not experience a year-on-year sales loss as a result of covid-19 at the time of the european investment bank's investment survey, and more than half predicted stronger sales in 2022 than before the pandemic. in western and northern europe, as well as central and eastern europe, the unemployment rate climbed by roughly 0.5 percentage point. the rise was greater in southern europe (1.5 percentage points). the united states increased by 4 percentage points during the same period, reaching a high of 10 percentage points in april in 2021. 44% of enterprises in central, eastern and southeastern european countries incurred losses in 2020 and/or 2021, and 10% did not anticipate to recover from pandemic-era economic losses in 2022. 60% of cesee enterprises received some type of financial assistance in response to covid-19, which is the same as the eu average. this was largely in the form of subsidies or other types of non-repayable financial assistance. only around one out of every ten businesses reports that they are still receiving financial assistance in 2023. economic recovery programmes