According to a recent report issued by the United Nations, the financial crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic will see Brazil’s per capita income fall 5 percent compared with pre-pandemic forecasts. The UN also reduced the country’s GDP growth perspectives for 2021, down 0.2 points to 3 percent.
While UN economists were more buoyant about the global financial outlook, with increased forecasts for the U.S. and Chinese economies. The report raised worldwide expansion predictions from 4.7 percent to 5.4 percent. However, deadly coronavirus waves in Brazil between March and April led to more skepticism over Latin America’s biggest market.
And Brazil is not the only country to suffer a setback. The UN notes that growth prospects in South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean remain “fragile and uncertain,” with many only expected to recover pre-pandemic levels in 2022 or 2023.
According to UN Chief Economist Elliott Harris, vaccine inequality goes some way toward explaining this economic imbalance. “It poses a significant risk to an already uneven and fragile global recovery,” he said.
“Timely and universal access to Covid-19 vaccinations will mean the difference between ending the pandemic promptly and placing the world economy on the trajectory of a resilient recovery, or losing many more years of growth, development, and opportunities.”
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