Abstract
The Global financial crisis of 2008-2009 severely impacted the developed economies of the world. It occurred at a time when most countries had started gaining economic growth, stability, and vibrance. Each country experienced a jolt to its economy, causing financial fragility, shocks, tragedy, and struggle. Attempts have been made to understand the root causes, economic instability, and the lessons learned from the great recession. Given the current situation of the COVID-19 pandemic, this research paper seeks to examine the global recession, its effect on the economy and finances. Our research is based on the qualitative analysis of comparing the impact of the global financial crisis and strategic recovery recession plans of the top five GDP countries in the European Union-particularly Germany, the UK, France, Spain, and Italy to draw some similarities between a recession and COVID-19 pandemic in terms of the economy. The findings indicate that the great recession had a devastating impact on the entire economy, and the world can learn valuable lessons. It notes that out of the selected five EU countries, Germany was the first to recover and bounce back by 2011, but Italy and Spain were severely hit and took longer to recover only partially. The recession recovery strategies demonstrate some similarities in economic and employment measures and differences concerning tax reforms and financial support packages initiated by all five countries. There needs to be a mechanism in which each country must prepare for untimely recessions. Thus, a developmental model has been created to enable countries to be more prepared when faced with recessions in the future years.