Governments worldwide have taken major action not only to fight the pandemic and save lives but also implement fiscal measure to protect their economies. To date, fiscal measures have exceeded more than $8 trillion and Central Banks have also attempted to boost their economies with increased liquidity. These are unprecedented stimulus measures to stave a major collapse.
In this blog we summarise the insights the International Monetary Fund has detailed in recent communications analysing the geopolitical economic responses to COVID 19. At the heart of their analysis is that the world requires a global response to this global epidemic. Uncoordinated efforts are likely to prolong and exacerbate effects and which has been the case to date .
The shock is unusual in that it affects both supply and demand at the same time. The increased costs to businesses and credit tightening has affected overall supply. Similarly, high uncertainty, unemployment, salary cuts and reduced spending has lowered demand.