According to Al Jazeera, economists estimate 4 million jobs may have been lost last year in China.
This year is already being defined by the outbreak of the coronavirus which has killed thousands and has infected thousands more, putting the brakes on China's economy.
Economists polled by Reuters expect China's growth rate to slump to 4.5 percent in the first quarter of this year from 6 percent in the previous quarter. That would be the slowest pace since the financial crisis.
With much of the country in lockdown, the virus could affect up to 42 percent of China's economy, according to Standard Chartered, Al Jazeera says.
Companies may struggle to make payments on loans leading to a rise in what is called non-performing loans of $1.1 trillion, according to Standard and Poor's.
Chinese airlines have been forced to ground planes and are expected to lose $12.8bn in revenue.
Globally, the airline industry is set to lose $29bn, according to the International Air Transportation Association (IATA). And the effect of COVID-19 is being felt regionally.
"Well, as you know, from 15 to 20 years ago China was already dubbed as 'the factory of the world' so then what we have seen now is that the supply chain sourcing has been interrupted," Reuben Mondejar, professor for Asian Initiatives at the IESE Business School, University of Navarra, told Al Jazeera.
Harvard Business Review (HBR) noted yesterday that having largely ignored Covid-19 as it spread across China, global financial markets reacted strongly last week when the virus spread to Europe and the Middle East, stoking fears of a global pandemic. Since then, Covid-19 risks have been priced so aggressively across various asset classes that some fear a recession in the global economy may be a foregone conclusion.
