The COVID-19 pandemic dealt a serious blow to national socio-economic systems, causing the deepest economic crisis since the Great Depression. Neither national economies and their states, nor national health and social welfare systems, nor private business, nor the global economy have stood the test of the coronavirus pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has predetermined an increase in the area of uncertainty as a new quality of post-coronavirus economic reality, in the structure of which private business plays a decisive role. In this regard, the principles of partnership between the state and private business in the production of public goods need theoretical understanding due to the new reality. Adequate institutionalization of relations between partners in implementing socially significant projects can be an important success factor in the fight against economic lockdown. The state dictate regarding the terms of partnership with private business, prevailing before COVID-19, largely explains the insignificant contribution of public-private partnerships (PPPs) to accelerating GDP growth in the countries of the world. After COVID-19, the priority of the intentions of private investors in organizing socially significant projects with the state should become the norm that will allow using PPPs to unlock the economic lockdown.