EMERGING markets (EM) have always suffered the label "high risk''. That label resonates even more today than in previous crises, despite growth numbers that are far more brisk than developed markets.

As recently as 2019, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimated a 3.3 percentage point differential in EM and developed market (DM) growth rates by 2024, and a larger share of global gross domestic product (GDP) from 59 per cent in 2018 to 64 per cent in 2024.

Yet the Covid-19 crisis, while sparing no country or region, appears to have dealt a disproportionately harsh blow to EMs in spite of infection rates lower than larger, wealthier countries. The World Bank's Global Economic Prospects 2020 report, published in June, projects a 5.2 per cent shrinkage in global GDP in 2020, with particular vulnerabilities in EMs. Countries labelled as emerging market developing economies (EMDE) are expected to see GDP shrinkage of 2.5 per cent in 2020 - the worst showing since 1960 (the earliest year with available aggregate data). Hardest hit will be commodity exporters which suffer average GDP contraction of 4.8 per cent, those embedded in global supply chains, and those dependent on tourism revenues.