There has never been an international sovereign debt crisis on the scale of what is now unfolding. The International Monetary Fund (IMF)—the lender of last resort to governments—reports that more than 100 countries have requested emergency loans.Normally, the IMF looks solely at the levels of economic distress in determining whether to grant loans. This time, humanitarian concerns are running right through what is rapidly evolving into an unprecedented disruption of global sovereign bond markets. The COVID-19 pandemic is producing severe balance-of-payments strains for many economies. Many debt-laden nations are in urgent need of food, medical and other essential imports, and …read more
Source:: The American Interest
