This was truly “disruptive” in the worst possible sense of the word. However, there is a famous saying: every cloud has a silver lining. And indeed, we have observed some “disruption” in the positive sense of the term. The pandemic has facilitated and driven change. It has turned out to be a catalyst for digital transformation and thus an “innovation accelerator” for the economy.
The capital outflows associated with the persistent current account surpluses were large even in net terms and, combined with relatively restrained business capital spending in many advanced economies (including the United States), put downward pressure on real interest rates globally.