The COVID-19 pandemic is undoubtedly hurting the global economy in a multitude of ways. Not only have the intermittent lockdowns and other restrictions interrupted market forces from approaching equilibrium, but they have also led to devastating supply chain disruptions and resource crunches across sectors. With the onset of the pandemic, the over-dependency on Chinese manufacturing had started to hurt global economic growth. During the SARS outbreak in 2003, China only contributed to about 4 percent of global output, which had increased to a whopping 16 percent in 2020. With the SARS-CoV-2 virus originating in China, the subsequent allegations against the country over its handling of the crisis, and the ongoing US-China trade war, foreign investors in China have already began shifting their manufacturing activities to countries like India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Vietnam, and Philippines.
The pandemic-induced BRI: Then, now and what next? | ORF (orfonline.org)
