Wealth gaps to widen in Europe

The Covid-19 pandemic is likely to widen wealth gaps in Europe unless policymakers help end the health crisis globally, support economies until the pandemic is over and invest in making economies greener, the International Monetary Fund said on Monday.

In a speech to a European Parliament conference, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva praised EU governments for putting more than 3 trillion euros in fiscal support for firms and households, including job-retention schemes that helped more than 54 million workers. “But the path to recovery is … uneven… because of the difference in starting positions, economic structure and capacity to respond, causing inequalities to grow both across and within countries,” she said.

She said in the 27-nation EU, countries that are traditional tourist destinations, such as Spain, Greece and Italy, contracted more than 9% in 2020 compared to an average contraction of 6.4% across the bloc.

[Reuters]