In this Power BI desktop project, I will explore data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) World Economic Outlook (WEO) Database October 2020 Edition. The WEO database contains selected macroeconomic data series from the statistical appendix of the WEO report, which presents the IMF staff’s analysis and projections of economic developments at the global level, in major country groups and in many individual countries. The WEO report/database is released in April and September/October each year. As mentioned, I have based my analysis on the October 2020 edition.

These are difficult times, more than one million lives have been lost to COVID-19 and many more have suffered serious illness. However, yet there are some reasons to be hopeful. The roll-out of several COVID-19 vaccine has started. In some areas, international solidarity has strengthened. From rolling back trade restrictions on medical equipment to enhancing financial assistance for vulnerable countries. In the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, the global economy could see a “somewhat less severe, though still deep” recession through 2020, the IMF has projected in the WEO October 2020 edition. The “somewhat less severe” statement, is based on recent data suggesting that many economies have started to recover faster than anticipated after reopening from lockdowns.

In the attached Power BI report, I have visualized data from the WEO Database October 2020 Edition, after some data processing. We clearly see that the COVID-19 pandemic led to a severe global economic downturn. In the WEO October 2020 report, the IMF project global growth in 2020 to fall by −4.4 percent. In 2021, IMF project global growth to rebound to 5.2 percent. However, it is likely that the recovery will be uneven across countries and regions. The countries with effective test, track and isolate systems, where vaccinations will be deployed rapidly, will likely perform relatively well.

After the projected rebound in 2021, IMF expects global growth to gradually slow to about 3.5 percent in 2025. This implies only limited progress toward catching up to the path of economic activity projected by IMF before the pandemic. It is also a severe setback to the projected improvement in average living standards.