Pandemic is exacerbating poverty, inequalities: IMF

The emergence of new coronavirus variants has increased uncertainty, posing downside risks to the green shoots of the global economy, the International Monetary Fund said on Thursday while ruing that the crisis is exacerbating poverty and inequalities.

“The emergence of virus variants has increased uncertainty and risks to the recovery are tilted to the downside,” IMF said in a communique after the conclusion of its annual meeting, attended among others by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

“The crisis is exacerbating poverty and inequalities, while climate change and other shared challenges are becoming more pressing and require our urgent attention,” it added.

Strong international cooperation and immediate action are needed to expedite universal vaccination to stem the spread of the pandemic, limit divergences, and support an inclusive recovery everywhere, it said in the communique.

The IMF also promised to take steps to boost the supply of vaccines, essential medical products and inputs to developing countries and remove relevant supply and financing constraints to help them reach the global goals of vaccinating at least 40 per cent of the population in all countries by the end of 2021 and 70 per cent by mid-2022.

Addressing a press conference later, Magdalena Andersson, Minister for Finance of Sweden who chaired the meeting said the pandemic has worsened poverty and inequalities globally.

The meeting called for strong international cooperation and immediate action to achieve universal vaccination, she said. “Meanwhile, climate change is becoming more pressing and it requires our urgent attention. We made a strong commitment to further accelerate the climate action in line with the Paris Agreement,” Andersson.

“Here, we will use all effective tools as fit to countryspecific circumstances. We will work together to help build a more resilient and sustainable global economy,” she said. There is an even stronger sense of urgency when it comes to climate change, she said in response to a question.