In this Oct 15, 2019 photo, Gita Gopinath, IMF Chief Economist and Director of the Research Department, speaks at a briefing during the IMF and World Bank Fall Meetings in Washington, DC, USA. (OLIVIER DOULIERY / AFP)

WASHINGTON - The global economy is on track to contract "sharply" by 3 percent in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, much worse than during the 2008-09 financial crisis, according to the World Economic Outlook (WEO) report released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Tuesday.

If the pandemic fades in the second half of 2020 and containment efforts can be gradually unwound, the global economy is projected to grow by 5.8% in 2021 as economic activity normalizes

The world has changed dramatically in the last three months, IMF Chief Economist Gita Gopinath said during a virtual news conference, noting that the latest projection is 6.4 percentage points lower than the IMF's January WEO.

Calling it the deepest recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s, Gopinath said that the cumulative global output loss across 2020 and 2021 is expected to total US$9 trillion.

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The latest WEO projects that the output of advanced economies will shrink significantly by 6.1 percent in 2020, while the output of emerging market and developing economies will decline by 1.0 percent. China and India, however, will see moderate growth of 1.2 percent and 1.9 percent, respectively.

If the pandemic fades in the second half of 2020 and containment efforts can be gradually unwound, the global economy is projected to grow by 5.8 percent in 2021 as economic activity normalizes, helped by policy support, Gopinath said.

Noting that there is "extreme uncertainty" around the global growth forecast, the IMF chief economist said economic fallout depends on factors that interact in ways that are hard to predict.