G20 finance ministers and central bank governors who met in Riyadh instead of attempting to forge a common effort to manage the coronavirus crisis simply issued platitudinous observations.
They noted that the epidemic will affect global economic development. One hardly needs to be a G20 member to realise that.
In the final communiqué of the meeting, which China did not attend, officials merely articulated their commitment to bolster international monitoring of how the epidemic is evolving.
Naturally that message did not allay the fears of investors.
Yesterday was a “black Monday” for stock markets on both sides of the Atlantic and the Greek bourse collapsed without resistance.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) expressed heightened concerns about the sudden rise in incidence and warned about a prospective pandemic.
The rapid spread of the coronavirus is undoubtedly linked to the constantly increasing mobility of people and the inter-dependence between countries.
The dependencies resulting from globalisation were discussed in Riyadh but of course the participants came up with no answers.
In our globalised world major problems require global coordination.
The powerful of our planet have a duty to step up their efforts to confront the threat and adopt a unified action plan
