The COVID-19 Pandemic and the World Economic Situation

The COVID-19 pandemic had a huge impact on the world economy in 2020, with major economies experiencing negative reactions such as a steep drop in economic growth, rising unemployment, reduced trade and cross-border investment, and abnormal fluctuations in staple commodity prices. To respond to the impact of the pandemic outbreak, various countries adopted corresponding fiscal and monetary policies to ease the difficulties and boost the economy. However,given the lack of driver impetus for world economic growth and the extremely narrow space for the implementation of conventional monetary policies, unconventional monetary policies are likely to cause huge fluctuations in the capital markets of major economies, generate serious negative spillover effects,and bring greater uncertainty to the long-term growth of the global economy. Under the impact of the pandemic, the accelerated adjustment of the global supply chain has become an important issue in the world real economy. Looking at the future trend of the world economy in 2021, it is still crucial whether the COVID-19 outbreak can be successfully controlled; meanwhile various non-pandemic factors at the macro and micro levels are also problematic. In the future, China will give full play to the role of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership(RCEP) and the China-EU Investment Agreement so as to contribute to global and regional economic governance as well as world economic recovery and development.