Learning loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic has been highly unequal as children in developing countries have faced twice as many school closures as in advanced economies. International Monetary Fund (IMF) in a blog post.
Its impact will be amplified as the share of school-age people in developing countries is almost twice that of advanced economies.
Citing its data, the IMF said the loss of education from classroom closures by the end of 2020 was as high as a quarter of the school year in advanced economies, up to half in emerging and developing economies.
“Such tensions also underscore the challenge for graduates joining vulnerable labor markets. Those entering the workforce amid an economic downturn experience weaker employment and wage prospects, as was the case with the Great Recession of 2007-09,” read the blog.
“The analysis in the IMF’s October World Economic Outlook found that the outlook for the labor market for low-skilled workers and youth is relatively bleak compared to other groups. This points to increasing inequality and high sensitivity to poverty.”
Because of the combined effects of these factors, countries could see economic consequences for decades, with learning losses, low productivity and employment disruptions, the IMF said.
According to a recent report by the United Nations and the World Bank, “Pandemic students could lose up to $17 trillion in lifetime earnings,” it said.
This comes in the backdrop of concerns expressed by the IMF about poor countries facing a $35 billion bill in the form of debt restructuring slip in 2022.
IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva’s urgency to defer terms of an “economic collapse” for some countries is growing after the G-20 waivers on debt-service payments for nearly 70 struggling countries – since May 2020 – in December Finished.
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