Opinion | Coronavirus economic relief: are we getting value for the money thrown at the pandemic?

The devastation of 2020 was cushioned only by massive government spending. Aside from the favourite sport of blaming China for everything, each country will have to concentrate on getting its economy back on track.

The latest OECD Economic Outlook showed that world output was down 3.4 per cent last year, but is expected to see growth of 5.6 per cent in 2021 and 4 per cent in 2022. However, poorly performing countries will continue to suffer low growth rates. 

China was the only major country that had positive growth in 2020 (2.3 per cent). The euro zone was down 6.8 per cent – with severe declines for France (-8.2 per cent) and Spain (-11 per cent) – and the United Kingdom down 9.9 per cent. Among emerging markets, India was down 7.4 per cent, Mexico 8.5 per cent, South Africa 7.2 per cent and Argentina 10.5 per cent.  

The latest IMF Fiscal Monitor showed that fiscal deficits are projected at -13.3 per cent of GDP for advanced economies, -10.3 per cent for emerging markets and middle-income economies, and -5.7 per cent for low-income developing countries. US$14 trillion fiscal support was given in 2020, with global public debt rising to 98 per cent of GDP, compared with 84 per cent in 2019.