What this means is that unlike economic slowdowns that we have witnessed before such as the 2008/2009 recession, the Covid-19 induced slowdown may require a different economic recovery thinking and modelling because it is not only affecting the demand side as people lose jobs and incomes but has also hit the supply side of the economy as firms slow down their production capabilities due to lockdown and social distancing.

Firstly, a V shaped economic model predicts a situation where we have an economic decline in output (GDP), employment and other economic parameters due to lockdown and social distancing but this will change to an upward surge of the economic parameters immediately the lockdown steps are eased and the economy starts to reopen.

Thirdly, a U shaped recovery model imagines a situation where the economic production capability will decline drastically as we are witnessing today followed by a stagnation of the economy as the recovery process takes shape on the key sector of the economy for a given period of time.

Fourth, a W shaped economic recovery model envisage that as it is happening today, a drastic decline of the economic production capabilities will be followed by a bullish recovery but that due to some other factors, this will be followed by a second wave of decline forced by a second wave of economic shutdowns and lockdown forced by renewed rise in infections after early reopening of the economy.

Although there are many more economic recovery model shapes used to explain our economic recoveries, it is important to note that the model adopted will mostly depend on our health system‘s preparedness to help in the control of the spread of the pandemic and the duration of time the global community will take to come up with a solution to the problem.

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