Pandemic
I.M.F. Presents Plan to Help Poor Countries During Pandemic By Peter S. Goodman and Alan Rappeport
IN A GLOBAL ECONOMY defined by extreme forms of inequality, the pandemic has widened the divide. The richest nations in North America and Europe are poised for robust recoveries, having used their wealth to rescue their economies and secure vast stocks of Covid vaccines. Poor countries are confronting the continued ravages of the coronavirus largely unprotected, and with their resources strained by growing debts. Now, fears that the world may emerge from the pandemic more unequal than ever have prompted a substantial effort to close the gap: Under a proposal nearing completion, the International Monetary Fund would issue $650 billion worth of reserve
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funds, essentially creating money that troubled countries could use to purchase vaccines, finance health care and pay down debt. Such a step would deliver “potentially the largest capital allocation since the end of World War II,” declared the administrator of the United Nations Development Program, Achim Steiner, speaking during a press briefing this week. But international development experts say that simply creating new reserves would be of limited benefit to poor countries unless wealthy nations voluntarily transfer some of their holdings to them — a course that I.M.F. officials are seeking to bring about.
DAWN
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