The Financing for Sustainable Development Report 2021 says that the global economy has experienced the worst recession in 90 years, with the most vulnerable segments of societies disproportionately affected, with an estimated 114 million jobs lost over the years of pandemic.
The most affected groups are homeless people, women victims of gender-based violence, older people, people with different types of special needs and those working in the informal economy. In addition to these, migrants and refugees, and in general countries with already weak health systems or facing humanitarian crises, are also bearing the negative impacts of the crisis.
In addition, the lack of access to basic services, which the pandemic has brought with it, and which still exists in many sectors and many societies, situations of unemployment or the lack of access to digitalisation in many groups, have represented an increase in inequalities throughout the pandemic.
In short, inequality remains a cause for concern. Despite some small steps towards reducing inequality in some dimensions, the pandemic has only intensified existing inequalities, affecting the most vulnerable communities more than anyone else, intensifying the economic inequalities and the scarce networks that these communities had.
The response to the crisis caused by the pandemic has also been grossly unequal and has widened inequalities even further.
16 trillion dollars have been injected in funds to overcome the negative effects of the pandemic, a historic figure. However, less than 20% of this figure has been invested in developing countries.
The same has happened with vaccination campaigns. In January 2021, when the campaigns started, only 9 developing countries started them alongside the rest of the developed world.
In more than half of the least developed countries, the pandemic has only increased inequalities both within the country and with other countries, and has also led to a significant increase in debt levels.
The situation in the world's poorest countries is therefore deeply worrying and, according to UN data, could delay the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals set for 2030 by another 10 years.
Only immediate political action can prevent a lost decade for the development of many countries.
The pandemic has shown that a world where some countries do not think of others, where individualism is seen as a triumph and where we do not look beyond our borders, is a world that is lost. Helping other countries to overcome their crises means strengthening ourselves and securing a more sustainable future for all.
Debt is also a worrying problem. About half of the least developed countries and other low-income countries were already at high risk or in debt distress before Covid-19 and, with falling tax revenues, the pandemic has pushed debt levels through the roof. Avoiding debt overhang in these countries is also a moral duty for all. Liquidity needs to be provided so that their debt levels can be reduced.
We must help countries with fewer resources not only to overcome their crises by getting out of them economically but also by increasing their possibilities to invest in their own resources and in their own development and progress.
We need to make smart, sustainable investment to safely deal with future pandemics. Indeed, it is estimated that investing $70-120 billion over the next two years, and $20-40 billion thereafter, would significantly reduce the likelihood of another pandemic. This falls on the better-off countries, because developing countries do not have the fiscal space to make these investments.
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