One year ago, it was the Asian economies like China, Japan, and Indonesia that had seemingly controlled COVID and were leading the global growth rebound. The perception then was the East would help restart the system and eventually the West would come back online.
Through the second half of 2020, this was largely how the global recovery played out. However, starting in April 2021 in India, a second wave of COVID swept through Southeast Asia. As this resurgent wave moved from country to country, it initiated a second series of lockdowns for businesses and caused a steep drop in private consumption and investment. This has led the IMF to downgrade GDP growth forecasts across the region.
