The Economist sees Bangladesh as 9th strongest among emerging economies in coronavirus peril

The Economist has placed Bangladesh on the ninth position in terms of different indicators of financial strength among 66 emerging markets in peril over the coronavirus crisis.

China is just behind Bangladesh while Botswana has been placed first, according to the rankings published by the magazine on Saturday.

The others ahead of Bangladesh are Taiwan, South Korea, Peru, Russia, Philippines and Thailand.  

The Economist has ranked the countries using four potential sources of peril. These include public debt, foreign debt, and borrowing costs.

It has also calculated their likely foreign payments this year and compare this with their foreign exchange reserves.

“The damage to exports will be acute. Thanks to low oil prices, Gulf oil exporters will suffer a current-account deficit of over 3% of GDP this year, the IMF reckons, compared with a 5.6% surplus last year,” the magazine said of the economic impacts of the pandemic.

When exports fall short of imports, countries typically bridge the gap by borrowing from abroad, it said.

To weather the crisis, emerging economies may need at least $2.5 trillion, the IMF reckons, from foreign sources or their own reserves.

One way to ensure countries have more hard currency is to stop taking it from them, The Economist said.