International Monetary and Financial Committee Chair Lesetja Kganyago and International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva issued the following statement following today’s conference call of the International Monetary and Financial Committee. “We are in an unprecedented situation where a global health pandemic has turned into an economic and financial crisis. With a sudden stop in economic activity, global output will contract in 2020. Member countries have already taken extraordinary actions to save lives and safeguard economic activity. But more is needed. Priority should be afforded to targeted fiscal support to ...

Efforts to contain virus and save lives should be intensified, and governments should plan stronger, more coordinated measures to absorb growing economic blow Increasingly stringent containment measures needed to slow the spread of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) will necessarily lead to significant short-term declines in GDP for many major economies, according to new OECD projections. OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría, in preparation to the G20 Virtual Summit that took place yesterday, unveiled the latest OECD estimates showing that the lockdown will directly affect sectors amounting to up to one third of GDP ...

The dual shock of the coronavirus outbreak and plunging oil prices should push Gulf states to prioritise fiscal support for affected sectors of their non-oil economies, which are expected to slow this year, the International Monetary Fund said. Gulf oil exporters’ governments and central banks have so far launched broad-based stimulus packages to mitigate the economic impact of the pandemic. To best support their economies, and preserve their ability to recover after the pandemic, Gulf authorities should adopt a targeted approach, said Jihad Azour, director of the Fund’s Middle East ...

The International Monetary Fund on Thursday asked G20 leaders to back a doubling of its emergency financing capacity to strengthen its response to the rapidly spreading coronavirus pandemic that is set to cause a global recession in 2020. IMG Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, in a statement to leaders of the world’s 20 largest economies, said the depth of the economic contraction and the speed of the recovery depended on containment of pandemic and “how strong and coordinated our monetary and fiscal policy actions are.” She said it was paramount to ...

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund on Wednesday urged official bilateral creditors to provide immediate debt relief to the world’s poorest countries as they grapple with severe consequences of the rapidly spreading coronavirus. In a joint statement, the institutions called on official bilateral creditors to immediately suspend debt payments from International Development Association (IDA) countries, if requested. Those nations, home to a quarter of the world?s population and two-thirds of the world?s population living in extreme poverty, will be hardest hit by the pandemic, they said. “This will ...

The impact of the coronavirus is having a profound and serious impact on the global economy and has sent policymakers looking for ways to respond. China’s experience so far shows that the right policies make a difference in fighting the disease and mitigating its impact—but some of these policies come with difficult economic tradeoffs. Hard choices Success in containing the virus comes at the price of slowing economic activity, no matter whether social distancing and reduced mobility are voluntary or enforced. In China’s case, policymakers implemented strict mobility constraints, both ...

The coronavirus pandemic will cause a global recession in 2020 that could be worse than that seen during the global financial crisis of 2008-2009, but the world’s economic output should recover in 2021, the International Monetary Fund said. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva welcomed extraordinary fiscal actions already taken by many countries to boost health systems and protect affected companies and workers, and steps by central banks to ease monetary policy, adding, “Even more will be needed, especially on the fiscal front.” She said the IMF would massively step up ...

The world will take years to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has warned. Angel Gurría, OECD secretary general, said the economic shock was already bigger than the financial crisis. He told the BBC it was “wishful thinking” to believe that countries would bounce back quickly. The OECD has called on governments to rip up spending rules to ensure speedy testing and treatment of the virus. Mr Gurría said a recent warning that a serious outbreak could halve global growth to 1.5% already looked ...

OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría called yestterday for sweeping joint action by governments to defeat the health, economic, and social threats of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. In calling on governments to better coordinate their efforts, Gurría announced that the OECD would channel its efforts into immediate support to policymakers combating the crisis, launching a new online policy hub immediately. “The coronavirus pandemic is a public health crisis without precedent in living memory, and it is also setting in motion a major economic crisis. It looks increasingly likely that we will see ...

The impact of the global coronavirus pandemic will be “quite severe,” but a long expansionary period and high employment rates mean the global economy should weather the current shock, a top International Monetary Fund official said. Martin Muehleisen, who heads the IMF’s strategy policy and review department, said in an IMF podcast that the main goal for governments should be to limit the spread of the virus in a way that provides confidence that the economic shock will be temporary. He said banks and governments had already taken unprecedented measures ...

China’s economy is beginning to show some signs of normalization after the full-blown shock caused by coronavirus but stark risks remain, International Monetary Fund officials said in a blog on the economic impact of the pandemic. Most larger Chinese firms have reopened and many local staff have returned to work but infections could rise again as national and international travel resumes, the officials said. Outbreaks in other countries and financial market gyrations could also make consumers and firms wary of Chinese goods, just as the economy is getting back to ...

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on Monday said over 20 additional countries have asked about receiving aid from the global lender as the coronavirus pandemic halts economic activity, and she called for strong, coordinated fiscal stimulus to limit the damage. In a blog post on the International Monetary Fund’s website, Georgieva said the IMF was ready to mobilize its full $1 trillion (816.99 billion pounds) lending capacity to help member countries deal with the crisis. “As the virus spreads, the case for a coordinated and synchronized global fiscal stimulus is ...

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on Monday called on governments to take coordinated fiscal and monetary stimulus measures to stop the coronavirus from causing long-term economic damage. In a blog message posted on the IMF website, Georgieva said the global lender has received interest from about 20 additional countries for financing programs and will follow up with them in the coming days. She did not identify any of them. The IMF stands ready to mobilize its $1 trillion in lending capacity to aid its 189 member countries, she ...

Prior to the widespread outbreak of the coronavirus in the first quarter of 2020, growth of real gross domestic product (GDP) in the G20 area had already started to slow, falling to 0.6% in the fourth quarter of 2019, compared with 0.8% in the previous quarter, according to provisional estimates. GDP contracted sharply in Japan (by minus 1.8%, following October’s increase in consumption tax). It also contracted in South Africa (by minus 0.4%), Italy (by minus 0.3%) and, (by minus 0.1%), in France and Mexico. GDP growth slowed significantly in ...

A member of our staff has recently tested positive for the coronavirus Covid-19. The staff member concerned advised OECD Medical Services after feeling unwell and is now in quarantine. We wish the staff member concerned a full and speedy recovery and are providing all necessary support. The OECD is identifying and contacting those with whom this person may have been in contact in the course of any professional activity in the past seven days. Any such individuals are requested to self-quarantine for 14 days from their last contact with our ...