Wealthy nation backing for a $50bn (£35bn) mass global vaccination drive could provide a $9tn boost to the world economy, the head of the International Monetary Fund has said.
Putting pressure on the G7 countries ahead of their summit in Cornwall, England, next month, Kristalina Georgieva said richer nations would see the best return on investment in modern times if they dug deeper to help tackle the pandemic in poorer parts of the world.
The IMF’s managing director, speaking at a G20 health conference in Rome, said rich countries would receive 40% of the GDP gains from more rapid economic activity, and that their public finances – hard hit by the pandemic – would benefit.
“By now we all know there is no durable end to the economic crisis without an end to the health crisis,” Georgieva said as she released details of new IMF proposals for ending the Covid-19 crisis. “That means pandemic policy is economic policy; highly relevant for the work of the IMF.”
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