No lost generation: can poor countries avoid the Covid trap? | Kristalina Georgieva

We must act now to stop the pandemic inflicting long-term damage, says the head of the IMF

Never before in living memory have so many lives and livelihoods across the world been disrupted at the same time. The International Monetary Fund estimates the pandemic's loss to the global economy at around $12tn (9.4tn) over 2020-21. The poorest countries - with limited resources and constrained capacity - are hit hardest: growth in low-income nations will be at a standstill this year, compared with 5% last year.

Without necessary action, this group of about 70 countries, representing more than 1 billion people, faces unprecedented human and economic devastation. The decades-long declining trend in global poverty is being pushed into reverse, with as many as 90 million additional people falling into extreme poverty, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia.

Related: IMF chief: Covid will widen inequality without global action

Kristalina Georgieva is managing director of the International Monetary Fund