Abstract:

Worldwide merchandise trade flows decreased significantly in 2020, as Covid-19 disrupted economic activity across the globe. This column analyses how various pandemic-related factors shaped international trade flows. Specifically, it estimates how Covid-19 incidence and lockdown restrictions affected the monthly year-over-year growth of imports from China for all destinations to which China exported goods in 2019-2020. It finds that government measures to curb economic activities had a larger impact on a country's imports than the direct health and behavioural effects of the pandemic itself.