The COVID-19 pandemic reversed a steady decline in global current account imbalances in 2020 as massive deficit aid spending in advanced countries combined with wider trade gaps for medical supplies and plunging demand for oil and travel, the International Monetary Fund said on Monday.
The IMF’s annual External Sector Report showed that the combined current account deficits and surpluses widened to 3.2 per cent of global economic output in 2020 from 2.8 per cent in 2019.
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