IMF PROJECTS 6P.C. GLOBAL GROWTH
THE global economic outlook is improving with six percent growth expected this year, says International Monetary Fund (IMF) Deputy Managing Director, Tao Zhang.
Mr Zhang said the IMF expected global growth of six percent in 2021 and 4.4 percent in 2022.
The IMF, Mr Zhang said, strongly believed that vaccine policy was the most important weapon in economic recovery.
He said this during the 2021 United Nations Economic and Social Council Forum on Financing for Development by Heads of State and Government on Financing the Recovery from Covid-19 this week.
“At the IMF, we strongly believe that vaccine policy is the most important weapon in our economic arsenal today. Countries should not restrict their trade, and they should donate their surplus vaccines to other nations.
“Developing economies, for their part, must continue to prioritise spending on health, which may require difficult choices in the face of limited fiscal space,” Mr Zhang said.
While warning that recovery prospects were diverging dangerously, Mr Zhang expressed confidence that economies would deliver.
He said in terms of mobilising international resources, IMF helped the world face the pandemic with US$110 billion in emergency lending for 86 countries, most of which were low income and developing countries.
“We provided relief on IMF debt service, and with the World Bank and others development partners, we strongly advocated debt relief under the G20’s Debt Service Suspension Initiative, now extended through the end of 2021, and helped in the design of the Common Framework, which now must be implemented,” he said.
Mr Zhang therefore observed the need to strengthen international cooperation to ensure a transformation of economies and societies for a better future.
He indicated that combating climate change would require more ambitious carbon pricing, a coordinated green investment push, and actions to ensure a “just transition” for vulnerable groups.
Most importantly, he said, a stepped-up commitment from the international community to provide the climate finance and technology transfers that developing economies need.