A 'long and severe' downturn has been predicted by the economists.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has issued a new gloomy prognosis for the global economy.
According to the economic experts, the present downturn, which has tipped most of the world's largest economies into recession, will be both "long" and "severe". The recovery from the recession over the years to come was also tipped by the IMF to be "sluggish".
Official UK economic data for the fourth quarter of 2008 showed a 1.5 percent contraction - a decline unmatched since 1980. January-March 2009 figures are also likely to show a similar drop, as the effects of the global credit crunch continue to stymie growth.
Meanwhile, sharp contractions were also noted by the governments of the US, Japan and Germany, among others. Yesterday, China also revealed latest quarterly growth results showing an increase of just 6.1 percent - well down from the double-digit expansions recorded before the downturn.
The IMF's analysis suggested that two factors would deepen and prolong the global recession, if evidence from previous downturns held true. Firstly, many of the world's big economies had gone into decline at the same time and secondly, because the downturn stemmed from a crisis in the financial sector - in this case, the global credit crunch that first froze lending between banks in the summer of 2007.
A recession caused by these two factors working in tandem was described as "historically rare" by the IMF. It added: "These findings suggest the current recession is likely to be unusually long and severe, and the recovery sluggish."
The IMF suggested in March that the global economy would contract by between 0.5 and one percent in 2009.
