Research Briefing | Apr 26, 2021

Global | Ranking overall Covid damage: deaths, debt, GDP, markets

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According to our pandemic-impact scorecard, EMs on average have been most afflicted, followed by frontier markets, with advanced economies suffering the least. But averages mask huge differences across economies on each measure.

What you will learn from this report:

  • Our scorecard is based on four key metrics: Covid mortality rates, GDP
    changes, government debt, and equity and forex market performance.
  • EMs and FMs have endured larger declines in activity and financial markets. In contrast, AEs have suffered the highest recorded mortality rates and biggest increases in debt-to-GDP ratios.
  • To some extent this reflects AEs’ deeper access to fiscal resources that helped them cushion the impact on activity.
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