On February 23 and 24, finance ministers and central bank governors from G20 nations gathered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to weigh the potential impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the global economy and form policy responses to support growth and minimize risks.

According to Jacob Greaves, a CGTN correspondent, the U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin didn't expect the outbreak to have a material impact on the first phase of the China-U.S. trade deal, but adding that this could change as more data becomes available.

When it comes to the COVID-19, the main message was monitoring the situation and taking actions when needed. 

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said the question remains whether there will be a V-shape quick recovery of the world economy or an L-shape trend with a persistent slowdown.

"Given that level of infectious, the fact that there is no 'herd immunity', it is going to spread through most of the human population. It could have about up to 70 percent (who) actually end up getting [infected], it would be very mild for most of them, but quite deadly for a minority with compromised immune systems, if that's the case then it will not be a V-shape recovery," said Steve Keen, a crowdfunded professor of Economics on Patreon. 

As Keen said, "It could be quite a severe challenge to the global economy."

Hong Hao, a chief strategist of the Bank of Communications International, believes that it depends on how fast and efficient the virus can be contained; and even though the new confirmed cases have been brought under control, when people go back to work, the contamination starts again for some reasons.

"I think for now the market is seeing a V-shape recovery, but I think more likely than not, it's gonna be an L-shape recovery," said Hong.

And Keen said, "The only thing which could make this be the V-shape recovery would be if we find that it actually has a very mild effect on people who are not, otherwise, with compromised immune systems."

He added that the production system that relies on global delivery could also be compromised and fail. Imagine seamen going to sea in a container vessel on a 10-day or 15-day journey and finding one of the members infected, saying it would be impossible to deliver in this scenario. 

"We really are in uncharted territory and it's going to have a very severe impact." 

"Dialogue with Yang Rui" is a prime time English-language daily talk show on CGTN. The 30-minute program covers a wide range of domestic and international topics, providing a balanced and critical perspective on current affairs and analysis within the framework of cross-cultural and multi-disciplinary comparisons.

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