2021 Shanghai Symposium on Global Finance: The Global Economy and Finance with Great Uncertainties

The current global economy and finance are facing great uncertainties. The emergencies of the COVID-19 pandemic in one wave after another and endless new mutations have brought new uncertainties and negative impacts to the global economy.

Developed countries, especially the United States, have adopted quantitative easing to counter the negative influences of COVID-19. It is necessary to do so, but it has created or will create inflationary expectations. The current US CPI index has hit new highs. It is what people concerned about, because it will have great impacts on the global economy.

The pandemic has made economic difficulties for some developing countries which unable to repay their sovereign debt on time. The G20 and IMF have twice postponed sovereign debt payment by developing countries. Are these measures effective? Will their economies be sustainable after debt restructuring? Is the necessary financial support available? The FED's exiting from quantitative easing will definitely have an impact on other countries, particularly the developing ones, just as it did in 2013 after the global financial crisis. Are developing countries fully prepared for this?

Now that Brexit has become a reality, what impacts does it have on the economies of continental Europe and the UK? Will Europe's bailout package in response to the epidemic be fully implemented? Will the European economic recovery be sustainable?

August 15 of this year marks the 50th anniversary of the “Nixon shock” – the collapse of the Bretton Woods system. The collapse of the Bretton Woods System had a huge effect on the global economy and finance, although people didn't realize it at the time. The world entered the era of credit currency, and the US dollar became the main reserve currency, as it remains today. Will this situation change? How to change?

Therefore, answering the above questions, FES Shanghai and Shanghai Development Research Foundation (SDRF) jointly organized the 2021 Shanghai Symposium on Global Finance and discussed the issues with renowned experts and scholars at home and abroad.

The Chinese version of the report "Responding to risks of Covid debt distress" was also launched at the conference. This report presents the results and recommendations of roundtable discussions on debt distress jointly convened by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) in New York and the Consensus Building Institute (CBI).