Russia gives gloomy estimates for global pandemic losses

“According to various estimates, the losses of the world economy from the pandemic total from $4 trillion to $10 trillion, with the bulk of those losses accounting particularly for budgets of regions and municipalities,” Kudrin stated, adding that the healthcare systems of countries were unprepared for the outbreak.

“Health, social support systems have demonstrated unreadiness for global shocks. Today’s task of state bodies and supervisory agencies at all levels is to draft mechanisms that will enable those systems to become more stable and efficient,” he said.

According to a World Bank report earlier this year, the global economy is now well into the recovering phase, “poised to stage its most robust post-recession recovery in 80 years in 2021.” Authors of the report expect global growth to accelerate to 5.6%, with growth for nearly every region of the world revised upward. The report warned, however, that the “rebound is expected to be uneven across countries, as major economies look set to register strong growth even as many developing economies lag,” still struggling with the virus.

Last month, ministers and heads of central banks of the G20 countries warned that the economic threat posed by the pandemic is still strong.

“The pandemic continues to pose a major threat to the global economy, mainly due to the unpredictability of new variants [of the coronavirus],” Bank of Italy Governor Ignazio Visco said at an online press conference of the fall session of the governing bodies of the IMF and World Bank.

According to a recent survey from McKinsey, a Chicago-based consulting company, economic executives no longer see the pandemic itself as the “foremost economic concern.” Still, they put supply chain disruptions, inflation, and labor shortages at the top of their list of problems, and these, analysts say, can be seen as a direct result of the pandemic.

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