Lorna Tilbian: State of the nation

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It started on 30 January 2020, when the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Covid-19 a public health emergency of international concern and by 11th March 2020 characterised the outbreak as a global pandemic. What an unimaginable impact this has had on the world.

When the WHO declared the end of Covid-19 as a global health emergency on 5th May 2023 – after seven million lives had been lost and 13.3bn vaccine doses had been administered worldwide – the macroeconomic and geopolitical landscape had been redrawn.

As is well documented, central banks – in response to the lockdowns imposed by governments worldwide – reduced interest rates to near zero and continued quantitative easing for a prolonged period, which led to uncontrolled economic expansion with accompanying high inflation. The fastest interest-rate hikes in history ensued, with 10 consecutive rises in the US and 12 in the UK. To the surprise of many, there followed the inevitable credit crunch and attendant blow-ups, from the liability-driven ...