The International Monetary (IMF) has significantly lowered its outlook for global growth in 2020, predicting the world economy will drop 4.9%.

In April, the IMF had forecast a decline of 3% but the new number reflects the severe economic damage caused by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

"This reflects the fact that in the first half, economic outcomes came in somewhat worse than we had anticipated. And because there is no medical solution (to the coronavirus), we are expecting social distancing to persist for a longer time into the second half of this year," IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath explained.

China's economic growth projection has also been slightly downgraded from 1.2 percent growth in April to 1%.

To help the global economy recover, the IMF has provided $250 billion emergency financial assistance to more than 70 countries since the outbreak. It also calls for strengthening multilateral cooperation to promote global trade and provide sufficient medical equipment and solutions to the countries in need. Gopinath believes that China can play an important role in boosting multilateral cooperation.

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