Davos economic report included Argentina among countries with worst numbers due to coronavirus

On the eve of Davos World Economic Forum, a study was published that analyzes the impact of covid on global economies (fiscal stimuli, expected growth, variation in gross domestic product) and how Argentina is among the countries with the worst consequences.

President Alberto Fernández will be one of the exhibitors at this world meeting which will take place virtually from January 25 to 29.

The truth is, Davos will unfold amid a global economy rocked by one of its worst crises in history, including factors such as high rates of unemployment, inequality, health and climate tragedies. And the shock wave of a pandemic which, around the world, is adding waves.

Against this background, the report places Argentina with poor economic performance against covid, taking into account the fiscal response as a percentage of gross domestic product to the pandemic and expected growth for 2020.

Among the published charts, Argentina is the fifth country with the least fiscal stimulus (as a percentage of GDP, not absolute), ahead of Mexico, Saudi Arabia, China and Russia. A parameter of 16 countries was taken for this analysis.

Likewise, in the same table, Argentina has (as a percentage of negative results) the sharpest contraction in growth expected for 2020.In this line are also economies such as Italy, France, India and Mexico.

Another graph analyzes the place of countries along two axes: the number of coronavirus deaths per 100,000 inhabitants (until November 30, 2020) and the impact on gross domestic product. The analysis, in this case, covers almost 40 countries.

According to this table, Argentina ranks sixth in number of deaths (per 100,000) and third in percentage decline in gross domestic product (behind Peru and Spain). Sources taken include Johns Hopkins University and the IMF.

The preface to this long report in English underlines that in 2006, Global Risks Report Yes had given the alarm on pandemics and other health risks.

That year – the text adds – he was warned that a “deadly flu, its spread facilitated by global displacement patterns and not contained by insufficient warning mechanisms, would present an acute threat.” And ends: “In 2020 it has become a reality.”

The pandemic has historically set the world’s macro and micro economies – already fragile before the COVIDs, especially emerging ones – which will now add budgets related to vaccination and health programs and economic support in the face of stifling situations for De many families.

For example, in 2020 in Argentina, the cost of the basic food basket of the poorest sectors of the capital and Greater Buenos Aires increased by 45.5% compared to an average inflation of 36.1% and 34.1 % in the metropolitan area. They are 11.4 points higher, according to information from INDEC.

So, inflation is the most affected among the poorest and anticipates a new rise in indigence and poverty, in an economy which is already facing the renegotiation of the debt with the IMF taken by the government of Mauricio Macri.

Some other global data: Global foreign direct investment collapsed by 42% in 2020, for a total of $ 859 billion, against $ 1.5 trillion reached in 2019, as reported a few days ago by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

Davos report incorporates data that only in the second quarter of 2020 495 million jobs were lost and that only 28 economies in the world experienced growth in 2020.

The Davos Agenda will feature 1,200 leaders from business, politics and civil society. It will be opened by Chinese President Xi Jinping.