Daily Management Review

62% Of IMF’s Pandemic Loans Were Given To Countries In Latin America


12/16/2020




62% Of IMF’s Pandemic Loans Were Given To Countries In Latin America
According to the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, he sixty-two per cent of total lending by the global lender that it has disbursed so far as a response to the novel coronavirus pandemic hit has been given to 21 countries in Latin America which were hit severely economically by the pandemic.
 
The IMF still had enough lending firepower left with it and the IMF will continue to focus on helping out those countries in the region to take the "turn towards a greener and digital and fairer economy", said Georgieva while speaking to a panel hosted by the Americas Society/Council of the Americas.
 
Georgieva said that while it comprises only about 8 per cent of the total population of the world, countries in Latin America accounted for about 20 per cent of the total infections of Covid-19 of the world and about 30 per cent of the total deaths globally. She said that there was so signal that the pandemic was to come to an end anytime soon.
 
According to the forecasts of the IMF for 2021 called for achieving a global growth of 5.2 per cent for 2021, she said, and added that the IMF expected a combined expansion of 6 per cent for the emerging markets. However she said that the IMF forecasts only a combined expansion of 3.6 per cent for the countries of Latin America.
 
It would be possible for the countries in the Latin American region to achieve faster economic growth in the near future by making significant investments in human capital and education, correcting issues of continued inequalities and generating greater opportunities for the younger population, women and entrepreneurs, suggested the IMF chief.
 
Adequate conditions for greater participation of women in the workforce should be created by the governments of Latin America which will help to reduce gender inequality ion the region, she said. Such programs include making significant investments in development of rural roads, implementing anti-discrimination requirements for the private sector, and ensuring that the costs of childcare become more affordable top the masses.
 
There was good news for the entire Latin American region, which exports about 45 per cent of its total exports to the United States, in the form of the completion of the presidential election in the United States and the strong commitment of the incoming Biden administration towards addressing climate change, the IMF chief said.
 
She added that the region would also be benefitted by the overall plans to boost the US economy as well as diversification of global supply chains – particularly with companies moving out of China.
 
(Source:www.usnews.com)