‘This is war’: Covid may lead to global financial bloodshed

‘This is war’: Covid may lead to global financial bloodshed

The coronavirus pandemic is "morphing into a major economic crisis", World Bank chief economist Carmen Reinhart said, and warned of an impending global financial calamity.

Questioning the wisdom of central banks increasing their sway over the bond market, she said the "longer the uncertainty, the longer the pandemic works its way through the global economy, the bigger the balance sheet damage".

Reinhart said the current global meltdown did not start as a financial crisis but it is morphing into a major economic crisis, with very serious financial consequences. "There's a long road ahead," she said in an interview with Bloomberg.

On central banks trying to keep yields low by buying bonds, she said: "This is a war. During wars governments finance