COVID-19 and the global economy

CNBC has five charts that show how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the global economy.

The key points from the article:

• Many countries went into months of lockdown in 2020 in a bid to stem the spread of Covid-19, which reduced cross-border travel and accelerated job losses.
• Governments increased spending to cushion the economic damage, but are now left with a huge debt pile to reckon with in the coming years.
• Meanwhile, central banks around the world slashed interest rates and purchased more assets to inject more money into the financial system.