IMF has warned that there will be no economic recovery until the coronavirus pandemic is over

The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, warned on Tuesday that there will be no real resumption of the economic crisis caused by COVID-19 until the pandemic is completely over, for which he called for redoubled efforts in the global vaccination campaign.

“We will not succeed in overcoming the economic crisis that caused this pandemic until it is ended in a sustainable manner”He said at a press conference with leaders of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank (WB).

Georgieva insisted that two-tier vaccination, with countries advancing rapidly in vaccination while others developing more slowly, can slow the global economic recovery.

It also carries health risks, as countries with slower vaccination rates “They can be breeding grounds for viral mutations unless we accelerate the end of the pandemic everywhere, ”he said.

Georgieva and the leaders of the World Bank, WHO and WTO met on Tuesday to call on the international community to finance with $ 50,000 million the acceleration of vaccinations and other measures to fight the disease. coronavirus, which According to the IMF, it can bring in profits of $ 9 trillion through 2025.

The Director General of the WTO, Ngozi Okonjo-IwealaHe added at the same press conference that the world is currently suffering from a major bottleneck in vaccine production, as the global manufacturing capacity before the pandemic was around 5,000 million doses and that now she has to make two or three times more.

“We are not investing enough to develop this production, so we are working with manufacturers to remedy it, by discussing a possible transfer of technology and knowledge, or agreements on intellectual issues,” he said. said, alluding to the patent suspension negotiated at the WTO.

The President of the World Bank, David Malpass, insisted that “it is urgent to make vaccines accessible to all”, so called on countries with large numbers of stored doses to release and share them as soon as possible.

Malpass stressed that his entity has $ 12,000 million to provide financial assistance to countries where immunization is still insufficient, to increase distribution and conduct awareness campaigns on the need to be vaccinated.

International leaders called on the G7, at its upcoming UK summit later this month, to agree on “a more coordinated strategy, backed by new funding, to immunize the planet”, and than agree to contribute $ 50 billion to a plan against the pandemic that has already been proposed by the IMF.

These funds would allow “to considerably increase the production of diagnostics, treatments, oxygen, medical equipment and vaccines for a fair distribution”, explained the head of the WHO during a press conference .

The goal is to vaccinate at least 40% of the world’s population by the end of the year and at least 60% by the end of 2022 to achieve a sustainable global economic recovery.

The UN-backed Covax system was created to share vaccines with the poorest countries. But the wealthiest have signed direct contracts with the pharmaceutical industry and amassed most of the vaccines available so far.

With information from EFE and AFP

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