China) initiated a virtual conference under its Understanding China, Building Africa program, where Professor DING Yifan, China Forum Expert and Fellow at the Institute of World Development under the Development Research Center of the State Council of China, spoke on new dynamics of world development.

COVID-19 marks a turning point for the global economy, noted Professor Ding. Economies that have weathered the pandemic are recovering, while others risk a prolonged recession as they continue to battle the coronavirus. Despite their strong healthcare systems, the US and Europe have been hit the hardest, which was propelled, Ding suggested, by their initial underestimation of the virus and the detrimental impact of their national public governance on pandemic response.

COVID-19 could plunge the developed world into a tedious economic slump. The IMF’s growth estimation for advanced economies stands at -5.8%. Among the world’s major economies, China remains the only one with a positive growth rate of 2.3% for 2020, and the IMF expects a rebound in its growth to 8.2% in 2021. As developed countries teetered between implementing anti-pandemic measures and reopening their economies, the outbreak there was never effectively controlled, claiming countless lives and killing the economies. Yet China managed to rein in the outbreak at home. Its economy soon bounced back. Its industrial sector resumed production from mid 2020 and has since provided countries with numerous essential and medical supplies.