## Pandemic, War, and Global Imbalances | 2022 IMF External Sector Report ## Source details **Canonical URL:** [Pandemic, War, and Global Imbalances | 2022 IMF External Sector Report](https://www.imf.org/en/publications/esr/issues/2022/08/04/2022-external-sector-report) ## Other formats - [Markdown version](/en/publications/esr/issues/2022/08/04/2022-external-sector-report/index.md) - [Structured JSON version](/en/publications/esr/issues/2022/08/04/2022-external-sector-report/index.json) - [Bundle manifest](/en/publications/esr/issues/2022/08/04/2022-external-sector-report/bundle-manifest.json) ## Bibliographic details - Published: August 4, 2022 --- ### Overview - Global current account balances widened in 2021 to 3.5 percent of world GDP. - The IMF’s multilateral approach indicates global excess balances narrowed to 0.9 percent of world GDP in 2021 compared with 1.2 percent of world GDP in 2020. - The pandemic has continued to affect current account balances unevenly through the travel and transportation sectors and a shift from services to goods consumption. - Commodity prices recovered from the COVID-19 shock and started rising in 2021, with opposite effects on the external position of exporters and importers; the war in Ukraine is exacerbating this trend in 2022. ### Key findings and projections - The overall size of current account deficits and surpluses continued to widen in 2021 to 3.5 percent of world GDP, and are expected to widen again this year. - Global excess balances narrowed to 0.9 percent of world GDP in 2021 compared with 1.2 percent of world GDP in 2020. - Medium-term outlook: gradual narrowing of global current account balances as: - the impact of the pandemic fades away, - commodity prices normalize, - fiscal consolidation in current account deficit economies progresses. - The outlook is highly uncertain and subject to several risks. ### Policy analysis and recommendations - Policies to promote external rebalancing differ with positions and needs of individual economies. - The report emphasizes the role of policy coordination, burden sharing, and countries’ structural characteristics in shaping outcomes (noting these themes within the chapter on Climate Policies and External Adjustment). ### Climate policies and external adjustment - Model-based analysis of a “net-zero emissions by 2050” scenario examines how climate change mitigation policies—carbon tax, green subsidy, and infrastructure investment—could impact external balances over the next decade. - The analysis examines the role of policy coordination, burden sharing, and countries’ structural characteristics. ### External assessments and data - The overview chapter presents the evolution, outlook, and risks stemming from global external positions and summarizes the 2021 external assessments for a globally representative set of economies. - Individual economy assessments use a wide range of methods to form an integrated and multilaterally consistent view of economies’ external sector positions. - Supporting materials include the Full Report, Executive Summary, External Balance Assessment, Chapter 2 Data (External Positions and Policies), Chapter 1 Data, an online annex, and 2021 Individual Economy Assessments. *External Sector Report — Pandemic, War, and Global Imbalances, August 2022* --- ## Content in this bundle - **Chapter 1 Data** - [Chapter 1 Data (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/esr/2022/data/ch1data.xlsx.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"} - [Chapter 1 Data (XLSX)](/-/media/files/publications/esr/2022/data/ch1data.xlsx){rel="external" type="application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet"} - **Chapter 2 Data** - [Chapter 2 Data (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/esr/2022/data/ch2data.xlsx.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"} - [Chapter 2 Data (XLSX)](/-/media/files/publications/esr/2022/data/ch2data.xlsx){rel="external" type="application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet"} - **Chapter 0** - [Chapter 0 (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/esr/2022/english/ch0.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"} - [Chapter 0 (PDF)](/-/media/files/publications/esr/2022/english/ch0.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"} - **Chapter 1** - [Chapter 1 (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/esr/2022/english/ch1.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"} - [Chapter 1 (PDF)](/-/media/files/publications/esr/2022/english/ch1.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"} - **Chapter 2** - [Chapter 2 (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/esr/2022/english/ch2.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"} - [Chapter 2 (PDF)](/-/media/files/publications/esr/2022/english/ch2.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"} - **Chapter 3** - [Chapter 3 (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/esr/2022/english/ch3.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"} - [Chapter 3 (PDF)](/-/media/files/publications/esr/2022/english/ch3.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"} - **onlineannexes** - [onlineannexes (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/esr/2022/english/onlineannexes.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"} - [onlineannexes (PDF)](/-/media/files/publications/esr/2022/english/onlineannexes.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"} - **Full Report** - [Full Report (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/esr/2022/english/text.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"} - [Full Report (PDF)](/-/media/files/publications/esr/2022/english/text.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"} --- ## References - [DataMapper](https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/ranking/BCA_NGDPD@WEO/) - [Blog](https://www.imf.org/en/Blogs/Articles/2022/08/04/blog-global-current-account-balances-widen-amid-war-pandemic-080422) - [External Balance Assessment](https://www.imf.org/external/np/res/eba/data.htm) - [More about the ESR](https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/SPROLLs/External-Sector-Reports) _Source: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/esr/issues/2022/08/04/2022-external-sector-report_