by Jairo Acuña-Alfaro
"The world has changed. What started as a one-dimensional health crisis quickly turned into a socio-economic, humanitarian, and political crisis around the world. Latin America and the Caribbean is no exception and has rather become the epicenter of the pandemic. The latest WHO situation reports detail that the region accounts for almost a third of the cases and deaths confirmed by COVID-19.
The pandemic is triggering the first setback in human development indicators since 1990. In Latin America and the Caribbean, it is projected that close to 30 million people will fall into poverty, the number of unemployed will increase to more than 44 million, the fall in productivity and the economic decline is so deep that it is estimated that it will be until 2023 when activity will recover to the levels of 2019. The IMF projects a fall in productivity in the region three times greater than in other emerging regions. In short, the acute health crisis in this region is accompanied by economic and social decline unmatched in the developing world."
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