By Tobias Adrian, Financial Counsellor and Director of the IMF’s Monetary and Capital Markets Department and Fabio M. Natalucci, Deputy Director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an unprecedented human and health crisis. The measures necessary to contain the virus have triggered an economic downturn. At this point, there is great uncertainty about its severity and length. The latest Global Financial Stability Report shows that the financial system has already felt a dramatic impact, and a further intensification of the crisis could affect global financial stability.
Since the pandemic's