Markets

How Global Central Banks are Responding to COVID-19, in One Chart

Published

2 years ago

May 20, 2020

Marcus Lu

Central Bank Policy COVID-19

Can I share this graphic?
Yes. Visualizations are free to share and post in their original form across the web—even for publishers. Please link back to this page and attribute Visual Capitalist.

When do I need a license?
Licenses are required for some commercial uses, translations, or layout modifications. You can even whitelabel our visualizations. Explore your options.

Interested in this piece?
Click here to license this visualization.

How Global Central Banks are Responding to COVID-19

When times get tough, central banks typically act as the first line of defense.

However, modern economies are incredibly complex—and calamities like the 2008 financial crisis have already pushed traditional policy tools to their limits. In response, some central banks have turned to newer, more unconventional strategies such as quantitative easing and negative interest rates to do their work.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, central banks are once again taking decisive action. To help us understand what’s being done, today’s infographic uses data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to compare the policy responses of 29 systemically important economies.

The Central Bank Toolkit

To begin, here are brief descriptions of each policy, which the IMF sorts into four categories:

1. Monetary Policies

Policies designed to control the money supply and promote stable economic growth.

Policy Name	Intended Effect
Policy rate cuts	Stimulates economic activity by decreasing the cost of borrowing
Central bank liquidity support	Provides distressed markets with additional liquidity, often in the form of loans
Central bank swap lines	Agreements between the U.S. Fed and foreign central banks to enhance the provision of U.S. dollar liquidity
Central bank asset purchase schemes	Uses newly-created currency to buy large quantities of financial assets, such as government bonds. This increases the money supply and decreases longer-term rates

2. External Policies

Policies designed to mitigate the effects of external economic shocks.

Policy Name	Intended Effect
Foreign currency intervention	Stabilizes the national currency by intervening in the foreign exchange market
Capital flow measures	Restrictions, such as tariffs and volume limits, on the flow of foreign capital in and out of a country

3. Financial Policies for Banks

Policies designed to support the banking system in times of distress.

Policy Name	Intended Effect
Easing of the countercyclical capital buffer	A reduction in the amount of liquid assets required to protect banks against cyclical risks
Easing of systemic risk or domestic capital buffer	A reduction in the amount of liquid assets required to protect banks against unforeseen risks
Use of capital buffers	Allows banks to use their capital buffers to enhance relief measures
Use of liquidity buffers	Allows banks to use their liquidity buffers to meet unexpected cash flow needs
Adjustments to loan loss provision requirements	The level of provisions required to protect banks against borrower defaults are eased

4. Financial Policies for Borrowers

Policies designed to improve access to capital as well as provide relief for borrowers.

Policy Name	Intended Effect
State loans or credit guarantees	Ensures businesses of all sizes have adequate access to capital
Restructuring of loan terms or moratorium on payments	Provides borrowers with financial assistance by altering terms or deferring payments

Putting Policies Into Practice

Let’s take a closer look at how these policy tools are being applied in the real world, particularly in the context of how central banks are battling the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

1. Monetary Policies

So far, many central banks have enacted expansionary monetary policies to boost slowing economies throughout the pandemic.

One widely used tool has been policy rate cuts, or cuts to interest rates. The theory behind rate cuts is relatively straightforward—a central bank places downward pressure on short-term interest rates, decreasing the overall cost of borrowing. This ideally stimulates business investment and consumer spending.

If short-term rates are already near zero, reducing them further may have little to no effect. For this reason, central banks have leaned on asset purchase schemes (quantitative easing) to place downward pressure on longer-term rates. This policy has been a cornerstone of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s (Fed) COVID-19 response, in which newly-created currency is used to buy hundreds of billions of dollars of assets such as government bonds.

When the media says the Fed is “printing money”, this is what they’re actually referring to.

2. External Policies

External policies were less relied upon by the systemically important central banks covered in today’s graphic.

That’s because foreign currency interventions, central bank operations designed to influence exchange rates, are typically used by developing economies only. This is likely due to the higher exchange rate volatility experienced by these types of economies.

For example, as investors flee emerging markets, Brazil has seen its exchange rate (BRL/USD) tumble 30% this year.

In an attempt to prevent further depreciation, the Central Bank of Brazil has used its foreign currency reserves to increase the supply of USD in the open market. These measures include purchases of $8.8B in USD-denominated Brazilian government bonds.

3. Financial Policies for Banks

Central banks are often tasked with regulating the commercial banking industry, meaning they have the authority to ease restrictions during economic crises.

One option is to ease the countercyclical capital buffer. During periods of economic growth (and increased lending), banks must accumulate reserves as a safety net for when the economy eventually contracts. Easing this restriction can allow them to increase their lending capacity.

Banks need to be in a position to continue financing households and corporates experiencing temporary difficulties.

—Andrea Enria, Chair of the ECB Supervisory Board

The European Central Bank (ECB) is a large proponent of these policies. In March, it also allowed its supervised banks to make use of their liquidity buffers—liquid assets held by a bank to protect against unexpected cash flow needs.

4. Financial Policies for Borrowers

Borrowers have also received significant support. In the U.S., government-sponsored mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have announced several COVID-19 relief measures:

Deferred payments for 12 months
Late fees waived
Suspended foreclosures and evictions for 60 days

The U.S. Fed has also created a number of facilities to support the flow of credit, including:

Primary Market Corporate Credit Facility: Purchasing bonds directly from highly-rated corporations to help them sustain their operations.
Main Street Lending: Purchasing new or expanded loans from small and mid-sized businesses. Businesses with up to 15,000 employees or up to $5B in annual revenue are eligible.
Municipal Liquidity Facility: Purchasing short-term debt directly from state and municipal governments. Counties with at least 500,000 residents and cities with at least 250,000 residents are eligible.

Longer-term Implications

Central bank responses to COVID-19 have been wide-reaching, to say the least. Yet, some of these policies come at the cost of burgeoning debt-levels, and critics are alarmed.

In Europe, the ECB has come under scrutiny for its asset purchases since 2015. A ruling from Germany’s highest court labeled the program illegal, claiming it disadvantages German taxpayers (Germany makes larger contributions to the ECB than other member states). This ruling is not concerned with pandemic-related asset purchases, but it does present implications for future use.

The U.S. Fed, which runs a similar program, has seen its balance sheet swell to nearly $7 trillion since the outbreak. Implications include a growing reliance on the Fed to fund government programs, and the high difficulty associated with safely reducing these holdings.

Related Topics:central banks quantitative easing monetary policy covid-19

Up Next

How U.S. Consumers are Spending Differently During COVID-19

Don't Miss

6 Ways Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Can Help Transition to Clean Energy

Click for Comments

Markets

Visualized: The World’s Population at 8 Billion

Our population will soon reach a new milestone—8 billion. These visualizations show where all those people are distributed around the world

Published

1 day ago

September 27, 2022

Nick Routley

Visualized: The World’s Population at 8 Billion

At some point in late 2022, the eight billionth human being will enter the world, ushering in a new milestone for humanity.

In just 48 years, the world population has doubled in size, jumping from four to eight billion. Of course, humans are not equally spread throughout the planet, and countries take all shapes and sizes. The visualizations in this article aim to build context on how the eight billion people are distributed around the world.

For extended coverage of this moment and what it means to the world, you can get access to our full report and webinar by signing up to VC+, our premium newsletter.

Now, here’s a look at each country’s population as of September 2022:

Global Rank	Country/Region	Population (2022)
1	🇨🇳 China	1,451,832,064
2	🇮🇳 India	1,410,982,243
3	🇺🇸 United States	335,391,957
4	🇮🇩 Indonesia	280,139,383
5	🇵🇰 Pakistan	230,918,073
6	🇳🇬 Nigeria	218,243,241
7	🇧🇷 Brazil	215,986,577
8	🇧🇩 Bangladesh	168,436,792
9	🇷🇺 Russia	146,074,130
10	🇲🇽 Mexico	132,030,739
11	Japan	125,619,457
12	Ethiopia	121,709,461
13	Philippines	112,939,493
14	Egypt	106,839,825
15	Vietnam	98,311,965
16	Democratic Republic of Congo	96,104,525
17	Iran	86,465,398
16	Turkey	86,415,852
19	Germany	84,385,892
20	Thailand	70,192,866
21	United Kingdom	68,691,253
22	France	65,597,276
23	Tanzania	63,802,882
24	South Africa	61,027,608
25	Italy	60,264,287
26	Kenya	56,557,929
27	Myanmar	55,236,333
28	Colombia	52,123,686
29	South Korea	51,367,770
30	Uganda	49,222,889
31	Spain	46,795,195
32	Sudan	46,265,964
33	Argentina	46,141,195
34	Algeria	45,695,757
35	Ukraine	43,156,242
36	Iraq	42,348,230
37	Afghanistan	40,993,541
38	Canada	38,495,773
39	Morocco	37,914,397
40	Poland	37,754,428
41	Saudi Arabia	36,069,266
42	Angola	35,327,540
43	Uzbekistan	34,589,376
44	Peru	34,031,086
45	Mozambique	33,346,961
46	Malaysia	33,319,730
47	Ghana	32,594,574
48	Yemen	31,371,445
49	Nepal	30,357,476
50	Madagascar	29,381,411
51	Venezuela	28,257,503
52	Cameroon	28,111,718
53	Cote d'Ivoire	27,925,649
54	Niger	26,344,186
55	Australia	26,178,342
56	North Korea	26,033,387
57	Taiwan	23,913,311
58	Burkina Faso	22,270,251
59	Mali	21,646,251
60	Sri Lanka	21,615,470
61	Malawi	20,304,147
62	Chile	19,489,734
63	Zambia	19,613,655
64	Kazakhstan	19,292,183
65	Romania	18,956,053
66	Guatemala	18,688,479
67	Syria	18,506,569
68	Ecuador	18,262,799
69	Senegal	17,793,385
70	Chad	17,553,601
71	Cambodia	17,252,457
72	Netherlands	17,219,859
73	Somalia	16,951,984
74	Zimbabwe	15,362,663
75	Guinea	13,981,705
76	Rwanda	13,712,855
77	Benin	12,878,142
78	Burundi	12,740,471
79	Tunisia	12,101,418
80	Bolivia	12,039,974
81	Haiti	11,721,737
82	Belgium	11,703,272
83	South Sudan	11,494,756
84	Cuba	11,311,223
85	Dominican Republic	11,096,411
86	Czechia	10,753,478
87	Jordan	10,434,463
88	Azerbaijan	10,347,430
89	Greece	10,310,847
90	Honduras	10,269,662
91	Sweden	10,241,804
92	United Arab Emirates	10,164,747
93	Portugal	10,130,876
94	Hungary	9,605,987
95	Tajikistan	10,042,202
96	Belarus	9,442,398
97	Papua New Guinea	9,342,727
98	Austria	9,122,566
99	Israel	8,969,013
100	Switzerland	8,798,256
101	Togo	8,737,152
102	Serbia	8,659,648
103	Sierra Leone	8,357,040
104	Hong Kong SAR	7,635,279
105	Laos	7,519,384
106	Paraguay	7,333,782
107	Libya	7,086,602
108	Bulgaria	6,833,885
109	Nicaragua	6,805,420
110	Kyrgyzstan	6,774,001
111	Lebanon	6,758,016
112	El Salvador	6,560,071
113	Turkmenistan	6,236,038
114	Singapore	5,954,898
115	Congo	5,839,721
116	Denmark	5,838,070
117	Finland	5,559,984
118	Norway	5,517,561
119	Slovakia	5,465,545
120	Oman	5,414,812
121	Palestine	5,381,277
122	Liberia	5,338,398
123	Costa Rica	5,200,150
124	Ireland	5,064,136
125	Central African Republic	5,025,077
126	Mauritania	4,940,298
127	New Zealand	4,911,293
128	Panama	4,472,108
129	Kuwait	4,416,533
130	Croatia	4,049,640
131	Moldova	4,013,174
132	Georgia	3,972,171
133	Eritrea	3,659,593
134	Uruguay	3,500,798
135	Mongolia	3,400,693
136	Bosnia and Herzegovina	3,235,985
137	Armenia	2,975,648
138	Qatar	2,994,073
139	Jamaica	2,990,290
140	Albania	2,870,809
141	Puerto Rico	2,704,519
142	Namibia	2,648,122
143	Lithuania	2,640,339
144	Gambia	2,578,866
145	Botswana	2,462,832
146	Gabon	2,349,783
147	Lesotho	2,180,846
148	North Macedonia	2,083,183
149	Slovenia	2,079,575
150	Guinea-Bissau	2,077,878
151	Bahrain	1,845,321
152	Latvia	1,840,901
153	Equatorial Guinea	1,514,454
154	Trinidad and Tobago	1,409,672
155	Timor	1,377,091
156	Estonia	1,328,527
157	Mauritius	1,276,493
158	Cyprus	1,227,303
159	Eswatini	1,187,627
160	Djibouti	1,021,185
161	Comoros	913,105
162	Fiji	911,185
163	Réunion	909,806
164	Guyana	795,114
165	Bhutan	791,064
166	Solomon Islands	726,764
167	Macao SAR	669,734
168	Luxembourg	649,600
169	Montenegro	628,243
170	Western Sahara	632,115
171	Suriname	598,608
172	Cape Verde	569,810
173	Micronesia (Fed. States of)	561,300
174	Maldives	561,291
175	Brunei	447,038
176	Malta	444,182
177	Belize	414,449
178	Bahamas	401,818
179	Guadeloupe	400,277
180	Martinique	374,617
181	Iceland	346,259
182	Vanuatu	324,088
183	French Guiana	317,076
184	New Caledonia	291,762
185	Mayotte	288,384
186	Barbados	288,162
187	French Polynesia	284,580
188	Sao Tome and Principe	228,652
189	Samoa	201,401
190	Saint Lucia	185,519
191	Channel Islands	177,517
192	Guam	172,146
193	Curaçao	165,604
194	Kiribati	123,690
195	Grenada	113,966
196	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	111,732
197	Tonga	108,440
198	Aruba	107,787
199	United States Virgin Islands	104,083
200	Antigua and Barbuda	99,773
201	Seychelles	99,725
202	Isle of Man	86,049
203	Andorra	77,542
204	Dominica	72,387
205	Cayman Islands	67,492
206	Bermuda	61,769
207	Marshall Islands	60,095
208	Northern Mariana Islands	58,336
209	Greenland	56,991
210	American Samoa	54,920
211	Saint Kitts and Nevis	54,052
212	Faeroe Islands	49,281
213	Sint Maarten	43,991
214	Turks and Caicos	39,924
215	Monaco	39,873
216	Saint Martin	40,198
217	Liechtenstein	38,374
218	San Marino	34,091
219	Gibraltar	33,669
220	British Virgin Islands	30,687
221	Caribbean Netherlands	26,779
222	Palau	18,288
223	Cook Islands	17,600
224	Anguilla	15,308
225	Tuvalu	12,126
226	Nauru	10,978
227	Wallis and Futuna	10,818
228	Saint Barthelemy	9,945
229	Saint Helena	6,118
230	Saint Pierre & Miquelon	5,732
231	Montserrat	4,999
232	Falkland Islands	3,723
233	Niue	1,651
234	Tokelau	1,396
235	Holy See	806

Below are regional breakdowns of population.

Africa’s Population by Country

As of 2022, Africa’s total population stands at 1.4 billion people. Many of the countries with the fastest growth rates are located in Africa and by 2050, the population of the continent is expected to jump to 2.5 billion.

Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country and its largest economy. Based on current growth rates, Nigeria’s largest city, Lagos, could even emerge as the world’s top megacity by the end of the century.

Africa has by far the lowest median age of any of the other continents.

Asia’s Population by Country

With 4.7 billion people in 2022, Asia is by far the world’s most populous region.

The continent is dominated by the two massive population centers of China and India. In 2023, a big shift will occur, with India surpassing China to become the world’s most populous country. China has held top spot for centuries, but the mismatch between the two countries’ growth rates made it only a matter of time before this milestone arrived.

Asia is a region of contrast when it comes to population growth. On the one end are countries like Singapore and Japan, which are actually shrinking. On the other, are Middle Eastern nations like Oman and Qatar, which have robust population growth rates of 4-5%.

Vietnam is on the cusp of becoming the 15th country to surpass the 100 million population mark.

Europe’s Population by Country

Europe’s population in 2022 is 750 million people—more than twice the size of the United States.

A century ago, Europe’s population was close to 30% of the world total. Today, that figure stands at less than 10%. This is, in part, due to population growth throughout other regions of the world.

More importantly though, Europe’s population is contracting in a number of places—Eastern Europe in particular. Many of the countries with the slowest growth rates are located in the Balkans and former Soviet Bloc countries.

Russia remains Europe’s largest country by population. Although the country’s landmass extends all the way across Asia, three-quarters of Russia’s people live on the European side of the country.

Germany is the second largest country in Europe, followed by the UK, France, and Italy.

Ukraine is the seventh largest population center in Europe, but it remains to be seen how the current conflict with Russia impacts the country’s long-term population prospects.

North America’s Population by Country

North America’s population is 602 million people as of 2022.

The continent is dominated by the United States, which makes up more than half of the total population. America’s population is still growing modestly (by global standards), but perhaps more interesting are the internal migration patterns that are occurring. States like Texas and Florida are seeing an influx from other states.

Canada has one of the highest population growth rates of major developed economies thanks to international migration.

Mexico is currently the 10th most populous country, but will eventually be bumped from the top 10 list by fast-growing African nations.

South America’s Population by Country

The population of South America in 2022 is 439 million. Brazil makes up nearly half of that total.

Sometime this decade, Colombia’s capital, Bogotá, will become the region’s fifth megacity (which is defined as having a population of 10 million or more). São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, and Lima are South America’s current megacities.

Oceania’s Population by Country

The population of the Oceania region is 44 million people—just slightly higher than the population of California.

Australia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea make up the lion’s share of the population of this region.

Interestingly, many of the smallest countries by population can also be found in this region.

When Will Earth’s Population Hit 9 Billion?

The next global population milestone—nine billion—will likely be hit sometime in the 2030s.

In fact, Earth’s population is expected to continue growing until it hits a peak at some point in the 2080s—possibly over the 10 billion mark.

Where does this data come from?

Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division via Worldometer’s live tracker (as of Sept 27, 2022).

Context: The UN has estimated that November 15th, 2022, will be the date that the world population officially hits 8 billion.

Markets

The Biggest Tech Talent Hubs in the U.S. and Canada

6.5 million skilled tech workers currently work in the U.S. and Canada. Here we look at the largest tech hubs across the two countries

Published

1 week ago

September 21, 2022

Nick Routley

The Biggest Tech Talent Hubs in the U.S. and Canada

The tech workforce just keeps growing. In fact, there are now an estimated 6.5 million tech workers between the U.S. and Canada — 5.5 million of which work in the United States.

This infographic draws from a report by CBRE to determine which tech talent markets in the U.S. and Canada are the largest. The data looks at total workforce in the sector, as well as the change in tech worker population over time in various cities.

The report also classifies which metro areas and regions can rightly be considered tech hubs in the first place, by looking at a variety of factors including cost of living, average educational attainment, and tech employment levels as a share of different industries.

The Top Tech Hubs in the U.S.

Silicon Valley, in California’s Bay Area, remains the most prominent (and expensive) U.S. tech hub, with a talent pool of nearly 380,000 tech workers.

Here’s a look at the top tech talent markets in the country in terms of total worker population:

🇺🇸 Market	Total Tech Talent	% Talent Growth (2016-2021)
SF Bay Area	378,870	13%
New York Metro	344,520	3%
Washington D.C.	259,310	6%
Los Angeles	235,800	10%
Seattle	189,570	32%
Dallas/Ft. Worth	187,950	15%
Chicago	167,560	6%
Boston	166,450	2%
Atlanta	145,080	7%
Denver	117,620	23%
Philadelphia	115,450	7%
Minneapolis	100,990	5%
Phoenix	99,600	18%
Houston	98,930	-2%
Detroit	93,770	5%
Austin	84,680	21%
Baltimore	79,000	8%
San Diego	77,780	16%
Raleigh/Durham	69,050	11%
Portland	67,410	28%
South Florida	66,660	8%
Charlotte	61,950	22%
Salt Lake City	55,930	29%
St. Louis	53,910	2%
Kansas City	52,500	0%
Tampa	52,240	13%
Columbus	50,390	4%

America’s large, coastal cities still contain the lion’s share of tech talent, but mid-sized tech hubs like Salt Lake City, Portland, and Denver have put up strong growth numbers in recent years. Seattle, which is home to both Amazon and Microsoft, posted an impressive 32% growth rate over the last five years.

Emerging tech hubs include areas like Raleigh-Durham. The two cities have nearly 70,000 employed tech workers and a strong talent pipeline, seeing a 28% increase in degree completions in fields like Math/Statistics and Computer Engineering year-over-year to 2020. In fact, the entire state of North Carolina is becoming an increasingly attractive business hub.

Houston was the one city on this list that had a negative growth rate, at -2%.

The Top Tech Hubs in Canada

Tech giants like Google, Meta, and Amazon are continuously and aggressively growing their presence in Canada, further solidifying the country’s status as the next big destination for tech talent. Here are the country’s four tech hubs with a total worker population of more than 50,000:

🇨🇦 Market	Total Tech Talent	% Talent Growth (2016-2021)
Toronto	289,700	44%
Montreal	148,900	27%
Vancouver	115,400	63%
Ottawa	81,200	22%

Toronto saw the most absolute growth tech positions in 2021, adding 88,900 jobs. The tech sector in Canada’s largest city has seen a lot of momentum in recent years, and is now ranked by CBRE as North America’s #3 tech hub, after the SF Bay Area and New York City.

Vancouver’s tech talent population increased the most from its original figure, climbing 63%. Seattle-based companies like Microsoft and Amazon have established sizable offices in the city, adding to the already thriving tech scene. Furthermore, Google is set to build a submarine high-speed fiber optic cable connecting Canada to Asia, with a terminus in Vancouver.

Not to be left behind, Ottawa has also taken giant strides to increase their tech talent and stamp their presence. The country’s capital even has the highest concentration of tech employment in its workforce, thanks in part to the success of Shopify.

Map showing tech employment concentration in the U.S. and Canada

The small, but well-known tech hub of Waterloo also had a very high concentration on tech employment (9.6%). The region has seen its tech workforce grow by 8% over the past five years.

Six out of the top 10 cities by tech workforce concentration are located in Canada.

Evolution of Tech Hubs

The post-COVID era has seen a shifting definition of what a tech hub means. It’s clear that remote work is here to stay, and as workers migrate to chase affordability and comfort, traditional tech hubs are seeing some decline — or at least slower growth — in their population of tech workers.

While it isn’t evident that there is a mass exodus of tech talent from traditional coastal hubs, the rise in high-paying tech jobs in smaller markets across the country could point to a trend and is positive for the industry.

While more workers with great talent, resources, and education continue to opt for cost-friendly places to reside and work remotely, will newer markets like Charlotte, Tennessee, and Calgary see a rise of tech companies, or will large corporations and startups alike continue to opt for the larger cities on the coast?