Author:The year 2020 has witnessed an unprecedented COVID-19 crisis where many human lives have been lost. We have also witnessed the tremendous magnitude and speed of collapse in economic activity– something unseen in our lifetime. This is certainly not good for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) where prior to this crisis, the world was already falling behind in efforts to achieve them.
The pandemic has led the global economy to a new conundrum. Just in the first three months, investors moved around US$90 billion out of emerging markets, the largest outflow ever recorded. Global growth is projected by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to fall to -3 per cent this year, making it the worst recession since the great depression and much worse than during the 2008-09 financial crisis.
In Asia and the Pacific alone, the drop in global demand will cost an estimated US$172 billion from trade alone, equivalent to 0.8 per cent drop of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the region. Of more immediate concern is the COVID-19 crisis impact on fiscal position, which exacerbates the risk of a new debt crisis in the region.
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