Emerging Market Green Bonds - Report 2020

The pandemic and its multiple effects hit the global economy hard in 2020. Consecutive waves of infections and extended or renewed lockdowns and other social distancing measures not only depressed economic activity but also had profound social effects. Relative to pre-pandemic baseline forecasts, real gross domestic product (GDP) is projected to be 6 percent lower in 2022 in emerging markets (EMs) and 3 percent lower in developed economies. This growth shock is expected to reverse two decades of progress on poverty reduction worldwide, with 8 out of 10 of the “new poor” living in middle-income countries.1 Although the rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines and, more recently, the launch of widespread immmunization drives provide a clear path out of this unprecedented global crisis, the short-term outlook, especially in EMs, is still uncertain. What is certain is that EMs will experience widely divergent recovery paths and will require substantial fiscal policy support...

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