Reference:CGTN | Updated:25 Feb 2021
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on Wednesday called for a "much stronger international collaboration" to fast-track the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines in poorer countries, according to Reuters' report.
Georgieva, who made the comments in a blog, urged the Group of 20 countries to take decisive measures to reverse what she termed a "dangerous divergence" that threatens to leave most developing economies struggling for years to come.
"There is a major risk that as advanced economies and a few emerging markets recover faster, most developing countries will languish for years to come," she said.
"If we are to reverse this dangerous divergence between and within countries, we must take strong policy actions now."
Some of the actions include additional funding to help these countries purchase vaccine doses and reallocation of excess vaccines from surplus to deficit countries.
Global GDP growth at 5.5 percent in 2021 and 4.2 percent in 2022, according to an IMF projection, but Georgieva cautioned that the prospects were uncertain. She cited concerns about various coronavirus strains and the slow rollout of vaccines across most of the world.
"It is going to be a long and uncertain ascent," she said, even as she appealed for continued, targeted fiscal support by G20 governments to support economies.
She added that central banks should maintain accommodative monetary and financial policies to support flow of credit to households and businesses.
By the end of 2022, the IMF estimates that cumulative per capita income will be 22 percent below pre-crisis projections in emerging and developing countries, excluding China, compared to 13 percent in advanced economies and 18 percent in low-income countries.
According to Georgieva, ending the pandemic faster would add $9 trillion to the global economy by 2025, with an estimated $4 trillion going to advanced economies, outweighing "by far" any costs related to the vaccines.
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