The outbreak of COVID-19 has badly hit diplomacy. Several international diplomatic conclaves, conferences, and high-level diplomatic trips are on pause. Diplomats are being asked to stay at home. Meeting rooms in the Foreign Ministries and Embassies see no human presence. Most of the international organizations such as United Nations, European Union, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and Asian Development Bank and South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) have moved online, using the digital platforms to conduct the meetings.

Policymakers around the world are coming to realize that it is neither wise nor feasible to rely constantly on central banks for economic-policy support

US President Donald Trump has made no secret of his disdain for experts and evidence-based policymaking

Crypto-fanatics have seized on policymakers’ consideration of central bank digital currencies as proof that even central banks need blockchain to enter digital-currency game