Coordinated Fiscal Stimulus 2.0: What G20 Can Do to Counter the Global Economic Slowdown?

Curated and produced by Valdai Discussion Club As the world is facing an economic downturn aggravated by the coronavirus pandemic, the creation of multilateral mechanisms of mitigating the consequences of such crises is once again on the agenda. G20 is the appropriate platform to discuss such mechanisms, in particular, dealing with the fiscal stimuli. Limiting the coordinated fiscal response solely to the country level significantly restricts the scale of resources that may be devoted to fiscal stimulus at the global level. There is an urgent need for a mechanism that allows for a coordinated response across all layers of the Global Financial Safety Net and the use of an entire array of reserves and resources to deliver the stimulus. These layers should include that of regional integration arrangements and regional development institutions, whose resources have become a significant part of the Global Financial Safety Net. This coordinated stimulus exercise should improve upon the previous effort, undertaken in 2008-2009, through focusing more on the composition of fiscal spending with greater priority accorded to human capital development, most notably healthcare. Apart from targeting short-term exigencies, the stimulus should also address longer term vulnerabilities, including the undersupply of healthcare services on a global scale. Another important aspect of the economic stimulus is the possibility of amplifying the effects of fiscal spending at the national level with added momentum coming from the regional development banks and other regional institutions that need to work closely with global organizations such as the World Bank, WTO and the World Health Organizatio