IMF reviews COVID-19 social, economic impacts

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has reviewed the various social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 in a report issued on Thursday.

The organization warned against the crisis of inequality that fiercely sparked after the pandemic.

The report also touched upon the crisis of falling trust between peoples and their governments, referring to the possibility of social protests and chaos eruption.

"The COVID-19 pandemic is intensifying the vicious circle of inequality. To break this pattern and give everyone a fair shot at prosperity, governments need to improve access to basic public services—such as health care (including vaccination) and education—and strengthen redistributive policies," IMF underscored.

Moreover, the report shed the light on a number of the long-term issues that worsened by the pandemic such as education.

"With widespread school closures, education losses in 2020 are estimated at a quarter of the school year in advanced economies and twice as much in emerging market and developing economies," it explained.

It added: "Children from poorer families have been disproportionately affected. We estimate that up to 6 million children in emerging market and developing economies could drop out of school in 2021, with lifelong adverse consequences."

In the same context, IMF urged governments for presenting a fair vaccination rollout by "giving everyone a fair shot."

Furthermore, the report reviewed the major economic crises caused by the COVID-19, especially in developing and poor countries.

"According to our research, countries with worse access to health care, proxied by the number of hospital beds, have had higher COVID-19 mortality rates than predicted by the number of cases and age structure. Similarly, our analysis shows that countries with higher relative poverty had higher rates of both cases and deaths," it continued.