The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on Friday lauded China's efforts in stepping up vaccination abroad and at home, stressing that pandemic policy is now the best economic policy.
"We must vaccinate at least 40 percent of the population of all countries by end-2021, and at least 60 percent by mid-2022," Georgieva said in opening remarks for the spring meetings of the International Finance Forum (IFF), a non-profit, unofficial international organization headquartered in Beijing.
The IMF chief noted that a comprehensive plan, with upfront financing, upfront vaccine donations, and more investment to insure against downside scenarios, will cost around 50 billion dollars globally, adding that a faster vaccination can result in higher global output of 9 trillion dollars between now and 2025.
"Here, China's efforts are commendable - by making vaccine supplies available abroad while keeping up the accelerated pace of vaccination at home," said Georgieva.
She noted that the recoveries are diverging dangerously across countries. "A small number of advanced and emerging market economies are powering ahead - while poorer countries are falling behind, mainly due to limited policy space and vaccine availability," she said.
"We face high uncertainty until this pandemic truly ends," Georgieva said. "We are all in the same boat."
"This interdependence is our strength, and we see a renewed support for multilateral efforts: from vaccines, climate action, to modernizing international corporate taxation," she said.
A transition to the new climate economy, Georgieva said, is critical to avoid widespread economic and financial disruption, noting that China's target of net zero carbon emissions by 2060 "shows important leadership and underlines the global consensus."
According to IMF research, green infrastructure investment with carbon pricing could boost global gross domestic product (GDP) by 0.7 percent annually over the next 15 years - and create millions of jobs.
