Chart of the WeekLow Internet Access Driving Inequality
COVID-19 and the Great Lockdown triggered a mass migration from analog to digital and highlighted that access to the Internet is crucial for socioeconomic inclusion. (more…)
Financial Conditions Have Eased, but Insolvencies Loom Large
By Tobias Adrian and Fabio Natalucci
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Amid the human tragedy and economic recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the recent surge in risk appetite in financial markets has caught analysts’ attention. (more…)
Reopening from the Great Lockdown: Uneven and Uncertain Recovery
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The COVID-19 pandemic pushed economies into a Great Lockdown, which helped contain the virus and save lives, but also triggered the worst recession since the Great Depression. Over 75 percent of countries are now reopening at the same time as the pandemic is intensifying in many emerging market and developing economies. (more…)
The Great Lockdown through a Global Lens
Combating COVID-19: How Should Banking Supervisors Respond?
By Tobias Adrian and Ceyla Pazarbasioglu
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The massive macro-financial shock caused by the pandemic continues to ravage the global economy and has put both banks and borrowers under severe strain. Supervisors find themselves confronted with unprecedented challenges which call for decisive action to ensure that banking systems support the real economy while preserving financial stability. This blog introduces nine joint IMF-World Bank recommendations to help supervisors navigate these uncharted waters and calls for vigilance regarding policy measures taken that are not consistent with international standards. This is critical to prevent the health and economic crisis morphing into a financial crisis. (more…)
Safeguarding Africa’s Food Security in the Age of COVID-19
By Pritha Mitra and Seung Mo Choi
Food security in sub-Saharan Africa is under threat. The ability of many Africans to access sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs has been disrupted by successive natural disasters and epidemics. (more…)
A Post-Coronavirus Recovery in Asia—Extending a “Whatever it Takes” Lifeline to Small Businesses
By Kenneth Kang and Changyong Rhee
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Asia was hit hard by the first wave of the coronavirus, as the sudden stop in activity struck households and firms simultaneously—first in China, then elsewhere in Asia, and now globally. Policymakers responded swiftly with aggressive spending to support the medical response and vulnerable households and firms. And central banks took swift actions to expand liquidity.
The Short-term Liquidity Line: A New IMF Tool to Help in the Crisis
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Challenging times for emerging markets
The COVID-19 pandemic has severely disrupted the global economy at every level. Across the world, financial conditions have tightened dramatically, with unprecedented portfolio outflows from emerging markets in terms of both size (a record of about $100 billion) and speed, and markets effectively frozen in some cases. (more…)
A Global Crisis Like No Other Needs a Global Response Like No Other
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I have been saying for a while that this is a “crisis like no other.” It is:
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More complex, with interlinked shocks to our health and our economies that have brought our way of life to an almost complete stop;
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More uncertain, as we are learning only gradually how to treat the novel virus, make containment most effective, and restart our economies; and
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Truly global. Pandemics don’t respect borders, neither do the economic shocks they cause.