{"id":172117,"date":"2020-11-09T12:00:54","date_gmt":"2020-11-09T12:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=172117"},"modified":"2020-11-05T05:37:59","modified_gmt":"2020-11-05T05:37:59","slug":"how-the-wealthy-world-has-failed-poor-countries-during-the-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2020\/11\/how-the-wealthy-world-has-failed-poor-countries-during-the-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Wealthy World Has Failed Poor Countries during the Pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Despite pledges for debt relief and expanded programs, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund have delivered meager aid, say economists.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

1 Nov 2020 – <\/em>Like much of the developing world, Pakistan was alarmingly short of doctors and medical facilities long before anyone had heard of Covid-19. Then the pandemic overwhelmed hospitals, forcing some to turn away patients<\/a>. As fear upended daily life, families lost livelihoods and struggled to feed themselves.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

On the other side of the world in Washington, two deep-pocketed organizations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, vowed to spare poor countries from desperation. Their economists warned that immense relief was required to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe and profound damage to global prosperity. Emerging markets make up 60 percent of the world economy, by one I.M.F.<\/a> measure. A blow to their fortunes inflicts pain around the planet.<\/p>\n

Wages sent home to poor countries<\/a> by migrant workers \u2014 a vital artery of finance \u2014 have diminished. The shutdown of tourism has punished many developing countries. So has plunging demand for oil. Billions of people have lost the wherewithal to buy food, increasing malnutrition<\/a>. By next year, the pandemic could push 150 million people into extreme poverty, the World Bank has warned<\/a>, in the first increase in more than two decades.<\/p>\n

But the World Bank and the I.M.F. have failed to translate their concern into meaningful support, say economists. That has left less-affluent countries struggling with limited resources and untenable debts, prompting their governments to reduce spending just as it is needed to bolster health care systems and aid people suffering lost income.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n