Page 59 - COVID-19: The Great Reset

guarantee as less iron clad, because the US was disengaging
from global geopolitics in favour of more stand-alone, inward-

looking policies, the security premium enjoyed by the US dollar
could diminish,” warns Barry Eichengreen and European Central
Bank representatives. [54]

Questions and doubts about the future status of the dollar as a
global currency reserve are an apt reminder that economics does

not exist in isolation. This reality is particularly harsh in over-
indebted emerging and poor countries now unable to repay their
debt often denominated in dollars. For them, this crisis will take on

huge proportions and years to sort out, with considerable
economic damage translating fast into social and humanitarian
pain. In all these countries, the COVID crisis may well end the
gradual process of convergence that was supposed to bring highly

developed and emerging or developing countries into closer
alignment. This will lead to an increase in societal and geopolitical
risks – a stark reminder of the extent to which economic risks
intersect with societal issues and geopolitics.

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