Comment: The recovery will be more U than V-shaped

Vaccine or no vaccine, the economic consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic are likely to linger well into 2021

The labour-market recovery will probably be asymmetric, and the pace of re-hiring will be far slower than was the pace of firing. Picture: Getty

To comprehend the present, much less to foresee what lies ahead, is as challenging today as at any time in my 30-plus years of professional life as an economist, forecaster and investor.

But challenging does not mean hopeless. The contours of the global economic landscape remain discernible despite the intersecting layers of fog brought on by a pandemic, rising populism and widespread social strife.

The Covid-19 pandemic’s negative impact on global economic activity is unprecedented. ...