Corporate governance during the coronavirus crisis: a course towards diversification of interests and its slowdown in implementation of its principles

In April 2020, more than half of the world population lived in countries where strict restrictions on movement were being imposed, disrupting people’s lives, business activity and international mobility. These containment measures resulted in a sharp decline in total consumption and in a shrinking of trade. The global economy lost 4.3%, which is 6 times the scale of the global recession of 2008—2009.2 Global foreign direct investment (FDI), which is considered to be a catalyst for economic development and corporate governance improvement, fell by 42% in 20203 relative to 2019. The decline was experienced in the main by developed countries, where these particular investment flows plummeted by 69% (in Europe, the decline amounted to 101%; in the USA, to 49%). In transition economies, FDI declined by 77%. In the developing countries, FDI lost about 12% on average.