Current Economic Situation and Outlook While the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has taken a tragic human toll measured in terms of lives lost and suffering inflicted, as a direct result of the necessary public health policies put in place to mitigate and control the spread of the virus, the pandemic has also inflicted a heavy toll on the levels of activity and employment in the U.S. economy.
Growth in other industrial countries has fallen short of expectations and the chances for an upturn remain weak in the Euro area and Japan. Structural reforms have to be undertaken in the EU Countries, sooner than later, to remove rigidities in goods and labour markets and provide a boost towards a more balanced expansion of the global economy.