COVID-19 further exposes inequalities in the global financial system

To stem the economic fallout from COVID-19, developed countries have injected an unprecedented US$9 trillion into their economies. The International Monetary Fund has recommended sustained fiscal support, emphasizing greater spending on health care and environmental protection projects. Meanwhile, countries in the “global south” – broadly, low- and middle-income countries in...

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IMF encourages countries affected by COVID to keep spending on safety net

The International Monetary Fund issued a report Tuesday on the current global economic outlook. The IMF is projecting global growth will contract by more than 4% this year. That’s slightly better than its June forecast, but still pretty grim. For now, the IMF said all countries, not just the U.S., should stop worrying about their debt and spend what is needed to keep their c...

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THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON GLOBAL ENERGY DEMAND AND EMISSIONS

The deep COVID-19 crisis has resulted in the largest decline in global energy demand over the past 70 years. In the first quarter of 2020, it decreased by 3.8 percent relative to the first quarter of 2019. As a result, global CO2 emissions in 2020 are expected to fall to an unprecedented level of 8 percent (around 2.6 gigatons) relative to 2019. This would mark the lowest le...

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IMF: COVID-19 ‘will erase 30 years of progress fighting poverty’

Oscar Williams-Grut A daily wage laborer worker at a construction site in Uttar Pradesh, north India. The IMF said day labourers will be particularly vulnerable to falling into extreme poverty. Photo: Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP The COVID-19 pandemic could reverse 30 years of progress made fighting global poverty, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned. The IMF said on T...

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