International Monetary Fund leaders said the global economy faces a “confluence of calamities” with the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic compounded by the war in Ukraine, as they warned that the trend towards restricting exports or breaking up global supply chains would undo years of progress.
Globalization has tripled the size of the worldwide economy and lifted 1.3 billion people out of extreme poverty, but since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in late February, 30 countries have imposed restrictions on trade in food, energy and other key goods, IMF officials said.
They called on global leaders to resist those pressures and focus on improving cooperation and reducing trade barriers while also combating climate change and the growing debt burden in developing nations.
In a message to officials gathering in Davos, Switzerland, IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva said “the costs of further disintegration would be enormous across countries. And people at every income level would be hurt.”
“As policymakers and business leaders head to Davos, the global economy faces perhaps its biggest test since the Second World War,” they wrote.
“We have a choice: Surrender to the forces of geoeconomic fragmentation that will make our world poorer and more dangerous. Or reshape how we cooperate.”
After a two-year hiatus, the World Economic Forum annual meeting will be held in person in the Swiss resort city of Davos this week.
The global policymakers, world leaders, and titans of business will be meeting in Davos with a lot in mind, as they strive to lead the world economy to a better place amidst the challenges posed by the devastation caused by the COVID pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
For the Philippines that is about to put a new set of leaders in charge, the quality of the new administration’s economic team will be crucial if the country is going to navigate through those hazards safely.
Hopefully, presumptive president Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is already on the job and up to the task of putting together the economic dream team that this country will need during these uncertain times.*
