The global economic hit from COVID-19

The coronavirus pandemic has had a trickle-down effect on the world's economy since it started spreading.

"The virus doesn’t' know any borders and all the countries have been affected by the COVID-19 crisis, all the western economies,” said Laurent Ferrara, an international economics professor from the SKEMA Business School in Lille, France.

Ferrara called the crisis a global shock.

"This crisis is very unusual in the sense that it can be seen as a sequence of value shock."

He said the first shock came from china, where the virus first popped up, and that caused an immediate hit to the supply chain.

"There was a drop in the labor force as people were obliged to stay home."

Another impact was to the opposite of supply -- demand.

"They stop spending. Companies stop investing until the uncertainty disappears."

We've seen stocks bounce up and down, and oil-exporting countries have an abundance of it because demand is weak.

"The next shock that will occur is a public finance shock. We are going to see an increase in the fiscal deficit, an increase in public debt, etcetera,” explained Ferrara.

If there is any good news, Professor Ferrara said the International Monetary Fund expects a strong bounce-back in 2021. And to do that, we need to come together.

"It's time for more international cooperation,” he said.