“The disruption relating to the coronavirus is set to cause the steepest fall in global GDP since the Second World War,” Capital Economics said in a note, forecasting a 5.5% contraction in global economies this year, dwarfing the 0.5% fall seen during the global financial crisis. “Once the virus is under control output should rebound, but it will take years to return to its pre-virus path,” it said.

Under a deal agreed between the OPEC and associated producers like Russia, a grouping known as OPEC+, production cuts equal to 9.7 million barrels of oil per day are due to kick in from May. But Kuwait’s state news agency KUNA said on Thursday the producer will begin cutting supplies to international markets without waiting for the official start of the OPEC+ deal. Meanwhile Azerbaijan’s Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oil project will have to cut output sharply from May onwards as the oil producer fulfills its commitments under the deal to cut production, four sources told Reuters.