IMF: Asia's economic growth to halt for first time since 1960s

Police officers checking and inspecting car drivers during the Movement Control Order period due to the coronavirus pandemic at a checkpoint in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday (April 18). The International Monetary Fund (IMF) believes Asia's fast-growing economies will "come to a standstill" due to the Covid-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, faring worse than during the 2008-9 global financial crisis or the 1997-98 Asian crash. - Bernam

HONG KONG/SINGAPORE: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) believes Asia's fast-growing economies will "come to a standstill" due to the Covid-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, faring worse than during the 2008-9 global financial crisis or the 1997-98 Asian crash.

The region will experience zero growth for the first time since the 1960s, said Chang Yong Rhee, director of the IMF's Asia and Pacific Department, who forecast that the economic impact of the pandemic will be "severe, across the board, and unprecedented."