GENEVA : The UN Conference on Trade and Development placed Pakistan, among other developing countries, to be hardest-hit by the economic crisis caused by coronavirus pandemic, according to a report released Monday.
Sub-Saharan African countries will be among the hardest hit alongside others including Pakistan and Argentina, said Richard Kozul-Wright, director of globalization and development strategies at UNCTAD who oversaw the report.
Their economies will take “enormous hit” from high capital outflows, lost export earnings due to falling commodity prices and currency depreciations, with an overall impact likely worse than the 2008 crisis, the UN report said on Monday.
According to the report titled “The COVID-19 Shock to Developing Countries,” the developing nations will need a $2.5 trillion support package this year to face the economic crisis from the virus fallout.
Needed measures will include a $1 trillion liquidity injection and a $1 trillion dollar debt relief package and another $500 million will be needed for emergency health services and related programs, on top of capital controls, the report added.
Referring to a “frightening combination” of factors including mounting debts, a potential deflationary spiral and a major health crisis, Kozul-Wright said that according to conservative estimate, coronavirus would cause a $2-$3 trillion financing deficit over this year and next..
“The international institutions have to take these sorts of proposals very, very seriously as it’s the only way that we can see to prevent the damage already taking place and which will get worse,” he added.
In an early sign of the impact, portfolio outflows from main emerging economies were $59 billion a month between February and March compared to $26.7 billion in the immediate aftermath of the 2008 crisis, the report said.
UNCTAD considers around 170 countries to be developing but the financing gap figure stripped out China and South Korea.