LONDON (Reuters) – Another human pandemic could cause economic losses of $13.6 trillion for the global economy over a five-year period, commercial insurance market Lloyd’s of London predicted.
The impact would mainly be from disruption across global industries due to local lockdowns and worldwide travel restrictions, Lloyd’s said on Wednesday.
The analysis by Lloyd’s and the Cambridge Centre for Risk Studies said that the most severe scenario could cause losses of $41.7 trillion, equivalent to a reduction in global GDP of 1.1%-6.4%. The least severe would lead to a $7.3 trillion loss.
The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns caused huge global disruption and its impact continues to be felt in inflationary pressures. It also generated legal disputes over whether businesses were covered by insurance for losses.
Lloyd’s did not give an estimate for the cost of the COVID-19 pandemic in the report.
The insurance industry has developed cover for new outbreaks of infectious diseases, for interruption and cancellation of events due to a pandemic and for the development, storage and transit of vaccines, Lloyd’s said.
(Reporting by Carolyn Cohn; Editing by Alexander Smith)