Coronavirus

Despite pandemic, Latin America to spend less on healthcare this year

Despite pandemic Latin America to spend less on healthcare this year
Image: IIIerlok Xolms/Shutterstock

The world is facing the worst pandemic in a century — but healthcare spending is actually decreasing in several countries. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the world’s top 60 economies will reduce healthcare spending by 1.1 percent in 2020 (in U.S. Dollars). That trend is even worse in Latin America — the region is expected to decrease healthcare investment by 13.4 percent in 2020. 

EIU expects a recovery in late 2020, which will be carried over to 2021, when spending is predicted to go up by 11.2 percent. Plummeting healthcare investment in Latin America can be explained in part by the devaluation of local currencies in comparison to the U.S. Dollar, which has caused a “spending slump in dollar terms.”

Earlier this month, The Brazilian Report’s Lucas Berti explained that the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, intersected with economic issues and corruption, has contributed to Latin America becoming the new global Covid-19 epicenter.

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