Qatar Economic Outlook Issue Number 13

Qatar Economic Outlook 2021 - 2023 
2 
Box 1-1: Towards Economic Policies Conducive to Rapid Recovery 
The impact of COVID-19 containment measures on health and economies in 2020 has been uneven, 
due to differences in the economic structures of countries and the speed of imposing containment 
measures and obliging the population to implement these. The same scene was repeated during 
2021, when the economies of the world's countries witnessed varying degrees of recovery, which 
reflected the discrepancy in efforts to combat the repercussions of measures to contain the spread 
of the virus, including the availability of financial capabilities to adopt expansionary policies that lead 
to a rapid recovery. The advanced economies, led by the United States and the European Union, 
have accomplished a greater recovery than have the economies of emerging and developing 
countries (excluding China) largely because of their financing capacity, which led to a widening gap 
in per-capita incomes between developed and emerging countries compared with developing 
countries, especially as regards the incomes of youth and women - and particularly the less educated 
among them - as well as the informal sector’s workers. 
The economic publication issued by international organizations and institutions, led by the IMF, 
highlights the importance of concerted efforts by all, especially developed countries, in spearheading 
effective policies to counter the various negative implications of the pandemic’s continuation, 
especially those that hinder the growth of investments, which led to the stalling of job growth. 
Combined, these impede hopes for achieving the SDGs; in parallel, they may make more difficult the 
reshaping of economic structures among low-income countries in making them more digitally capable 
and less emitting of the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) that are driving the climate crisis. It is recommended 
by the IMF that current and future policies should revolve around the following: 
•
Seek to deliver vaccines to all countries of the world, especially to middle and low income by 
intensifying funding through the COVAX mechanism and addressing obstacles to providing 
diagnostics, testing tools, and therapeutics for viruses, including oxygen, and then exchanging 
information to increase vaccine production, and facilitating their supply, storage, and distribution. 
The IMF expects that the benefits of putting a stop to the pandemic will reach $9 trillion during the 
period (2020-2025), of which $4 trillion would be for the benefit of developed countries. 
•
According to the IMF website, the economic and financial measures to confront the pandemic, 
represented in providing government financial support to their populations, underwriting of bank 
financing facilities, and the lowering of interest rates, led to an increase in average overall fiscal 
deficits as a share of GDP by 9.9% for advanced economies, 7.1% for emerging market economies, 
and 5.2% for low-income developing countries. Moreover, global government debt is projected to 
approach 99% of GDP by the end of 2021. Thus, there is a risk of increasing bad debts when 
support and facilities are withdrawn, which will affect the solvency of banks. Therefore, the IMF is 
recommending that policymakers should establish special frameworks to deal with the anticipated 
problem of a high rate of non-performing loans, as well as determine how to contend with the high 
debt burden. 
•
The IMF recommends that financial support must be continued towards maintaining a decent 
livelihood for poor families, that measures must be taken for preventing corporate bankruptcies, 
while simultaneously working towards a gradual reduction of subsidies by countries experiencing 
financial hardship. As for countries that have financial savings, they must spend more on education 
to compensate for the attainments drop during the pandemic period and increase investment in 
digital production methods to enhance productivity, especially in the field of green investments to 
create job opportunities, and accelerate the transition to a sustainable, green and eco-friendly 
economy )the “build back better” goal(. 
•
Easing of monetary policies, including grants and concessional aid, debt relief, and complete debt 
restructuring in some cases, has led to more prosperous, sustainable, and inclusive development. 

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