The Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak may trigger a global economic recession. A huge vacuum has been created in global trade due to limited supply of manufactured goods, raw materials and intermediate goods from China. World growth has become increasingly dependent on China's performance in the last two decades. This may lead to companies making irreversible decisions such as wholesale shifts in supply chain, distribution channels – supply chain broken, especially in certain sectors. China, which is the hub of manufacturing and the epicenter of global production, has put a hold on its production activities. There are limited supply chains that may stand across the globe without any dependence on China for sourcing. It is estimated that China’s GDP growth will slow down to five per cent this year.

Supply shortage of inputs that go into the manufacturing of a wide range of products will likely be the first indicator of the disruption. This would also translate into shortages of finished products, a steep fall in production but also a contraction in product demand resulting in falling future product prices, hence, a global economic crunch. In the last two weeks, international prices of major commodities have evidently declined except for gold which proves to be a safe investment tool in the time of uncertainty.