Developing Countries Desperately Need COVID-19 Financing

By Anis Chowdhury and Jomo Kwame SundaramSYDNEY and KUALA LUMPUR, May 25 2021 (IPS) Failure to sufficiently accelerate comprehensive efforts to contain COVID-19 contagion has greatly worsened the catastrophe in developing countries. Grossly inadequate financing of relief, recovery and reform efforts has also further set back progress, including sustainable development. Anis ChowdhuryUncertain and unequal recovery After over a year, “Poor countries are facing severe setbacks on their development paths, encumbered by ballooning debts, high risks of default and limited ability to inject desperately needed liquidity”, observed participants at a recent UN Forum. International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief economist, Gita Gopinath, estimates US$9 trillion in economic benefits from adequately accelerating affordable mass vaccination, testing, tracing and treatment at a cost of US$50bn. Overall global projections obscure disparities among and within countries. With vaccine apartheid and developing countries’ constraints, uneven pandemic containment and recovery have been worsening prior inequalities, further setting back poor countries and people. Global disparities Government responses have been much constrained by macroeconomic policy space, especially access to finance. ‘Unconventional’ monetary policies since the 2008 global financial crisis, especially low interest rates, have helped. Thus, high-income countries (HICs) have borrowed and spent much more on relief and ...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Aid Development & Aid Economy & Trade Financial Crisis Global Headlines Health Human Rights Humanitarian Emergencies Inequity Sustainability TerraViva United Nations Jomo Kwame Sundaram & Anis Chowdhury Source Type: news