The world is currently transfixed by the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping through many regions, especially Asia, Africa and South America.
But, focused as we are on the public-health crisis, we risk overlooking pandemic-related economic problems that could plague developing countries long after the wave has receded
At the global level, the International Monetary Fund has warned of a “great divergence,” whereby rich countries recover strongly while others flounder. Recent evidence suggests that several advanced economies, notably the United States, and a few developing countries like Vietnam, Thailand and Bangladesh, seem to be pulling out of the crisis and could grow faster than they did before the pandemic. But many emerging economies and low-income countries are likely to languish for a long time.