[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] Due to the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), major international credit rating agencies are consecutively revising their global economic growth forecasts for this year downward into negative territory.
On the 5th, Bloomberg compiled growth forecasts as of the 3rd of this month from 38 global investment banks (IBs) and economic research institutes, resulting in an average of 2.5%.
According to Bloomberg's earlier January compilation, the average growth forecast for this year was 3.1%, but as the COVID-19 outbreak spread uncontrollably, revisions to the forecasts have been made one after another since last month.
Among the 38 institutions analyzed, 5 have already projected negative growth.
In particular, Wells Fargo projected a growth rate of -2.6% for this year, while Julius Baer (-2.3%), Deutsche Bank (-1.7%), Natixis (-0.9%), and UBS (-0.6%) also anticipated negative growth.
Meanwhile, although not yet reflected in this compilation, the international credit rating agency Fitch recently lowered its growth forecast for this year from 1.3% to -1.9%, and the Japanese Nomura Holdings also revised its forecast downward from 3.3% to -4.0%.
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