IN ITS LATEST Economic Outlook, the OECD argues that economies are likely to diverge, as some (America and China) recover from the pandemic faster than others (many poor countries). Covid-19 has also struck different sectors differently: tech and pharmaceutical firms prospered; transport and energy firms suffered. Despite such disparities governments’ policies successfully put the economy into “hibernation”: in many places there were fewer bankruptcies in the final quarter of 2020 than in 2019. The trickiness now is in judging when activity is strong enough for support to be withdrawn.
Finance & economics | Divergence, big time
Covid’s unequal effect on companies
The winners and losers, according to the OECD
Dig deeper
All our stories relating to the pandemic and the vaccines can be found on our coronavirus hub. You can also listen to The Jab, our podcast on the race between injections and infections, and find trackers showing the global roll-out of vaccines, excess deaths by country and the virus’s spread across Europe and America.
This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline "Covid’s unequal effect on companies"
Finance & economics June 5th 2021
- What a work-from-home revolution means for commercial property
- As oil demand picks up, OPEC’s discipline will be tested
- What could break Hong Kong’s property market?
- The Chinese state is pumping funds into private equity
- Covid’s unequal effect on companies
- Twilight of the tax haven
- Will poorer countries benefit from international tax reform?
- What are the limits to government borrowing?
More from Finance & economics
Can the IMF solve the poor world’s debt crisis?
The fund will freeze out China if that is what it takes to offer relief
Frozen Russian assets will soon pay for Ukraine’s war
And America now hopes to convince others to make better use of the stash
Citigroup, Wall Street’s biggest loser, is at last on the up
Jane Fraser’s unexpected success