Damascus-Sana
The repercussions of the new Corona virus did not stop at the tourism and aviation sectors, as the industrial sector paid a heavy price and incurred heavy losses that led to a sharp contraction in production and a significant decline in exports amid economic indicators portending a difficult stage for several economies, including those advanced.
The stimulus packages and government assistance granted by several countries in an attempt to stave off the collapse of their economies and the aid of large companies to face the repercussions of Corona and the accompanying of the general closure and the loss of millions of people and their jobs did not result in tangible results. "CNN" on the US National Bureau of Economic Research, and American industry received a severe blow because of the global pandemic Corona, where industrial production fell, according to official data, by 11.2 percent during last April.
International economic experts raised their expectations about the next stage for the global economy and their expectations did not carry good news for the industrial sector including the American, which seems to have been affected like other sectors and will continue to incur losses until the end of the second quarter of this year in light of the American Federal Reserve expecting the economy to contract more From 42 percent, gross domestic product has decreased by 6.5 percent this year.
The deteriorating economic situation was not limited to the United States, where more than 42 million Americans filed applications for unemployment benefits. The euro area is not at its best either, as data from the European Union's statistics office, Eurostat, revealed that industrial production recorded the largest decline in April at the rate of It amounted to 17.1 percent on a monthly basis and according to official data, this decrease is the largest in the region that includes 19 countries since the data was registered in 1991, as a result of the procedures of public closure against the background of Corona.
The new Eurostat data showed that the euro zone’s trade surplus fell sharply on an annual basis last April due to restrictive measures accompanying the fight against the Corona pandemic, while the economies of the eurozone countries suffer from the global pandemic separately. In Germany, industrial production contracted at a rate of 30.2 percent during last April. On an annual basis, while the German Ministry of Economy announced yesterday, according to Reuters reports, that the economic output will shrink more in the second quarter of this year compared to the first quarter.
The countries of France, Italy and Britain, in turn, witnessed a contraction of 42.5, 34.3 and 20.4 percent, respectively, last April, while European countries are counting on the decline of the Corona wave to completely re-launch the economy and operate heavy factories.
Industrial sector losses were not limited to the economies of America and Europe, as production in East Asia was greatly affected, according to data from last April, with industrial production in Japan falling to its lowest level in 7 years, and the economy shrinking by 8.9 percent, according to Japanese Ministry of Economy data, while Chinese factories have succeeded For the first time since the epidemic appeared to resume its work, which was reflected in the growth of industrial output last April by 3.9 percent.
In South Korea, exports of information and communications technology products declined in May for the second month in a row due to the Corona pandemic, which, according to data released by the Ministry of Science and Information and Communications Technology, affected demand for displays and mobile phones.
Moving to Latin America, the largest Brazilian economy in the continent’s economies witnessed a decline in industrial production at its fastest pace in April, after registering a decrease of 18.8 percent compared to the previous month, and by 27.2 percent on an annual basis.
While the World Bank expected last week that the Corona virus will shrink the global economic output by 5.2 percent this year, global stock markets recorded a decline last Friday, amid fears of a high number of Corona virus infections and the resulting new economic damage, and that the US oil and gas market was one of The most affected by the virus in the world, with more than 100,000 people working in this sector losing their jobs, according to the data of the American Labor Office.
Perhaps the blurry vision of the global pandemic and the outcome of an expected second wave of the virus will affect the overall situation of industrial production and put new challenges for companies, large or small, that were most affected.
Basem Kanoon