Post-COVID 19 Financial Awakening and Opportunities for Accelerating Sustainability

The pandemic and economic lockdowns have severely affected the global economic activities. Many countries face multiple crises, the health crises, the financial crises, the collapse in the commodity prices, especially commodity exporters, and all of these interact in complex ways. According to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the global economy could suffer between US$5.8 trillion and US$8.8 trillion in losses, equivalent to 6.4 percent to 9.7 percent of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a result of COVID-19. The UN’s work agency cautions that hundreds of millions of people could be left without work due to the impact of COVID-19. Thus, several government have softened rise in unemployment with generous wages subsidies. The statistics total debt levels, which include government, household, and corporate and bank debt, rose $4.8 trillion to $296 trillion at the end of June 2021, which is a new record high, after a slight decline in the first quarter, to stand $36 trillion above pre-pandemic levels. Emre Tiftik, the IIF's director of sustainability research said : "If the borrowing continues at this pace, we expect global debt to exceed $300 trillion" (Reuters, Sept 2021). It was clear that the there is correlation between different sectors and different segments of the society.