OBELA Analysis

The growth forecasts for the world economy at the beginning of the year were optimistic. At the end of June, world production is projected to be -4.9% (IMF) -5.2% (World Bank) and -6% (OECD). According to the president of the World Bank, Malpass, the year 2020 is the worst in terms of growth since the crisis of 1929 and possibly since the long depression of 1872.

The impact on growth dynamics has been global. However, the experience of the pandemic in emerging economies is far from that of advanced economies. The question is why Governments with greater fiscal and monetary capacity to implement counter-cyclical policies have similar growth outcomes.

The challenges are to generate an economic renaissance that promotes employment, sustainable agriculture, shortening global value chains, increasing the use of renewable energy and discovering a vaccine and treatment that are universal and free.

During the pandemic, the United States and its institutions have taken measures that have had an impact on providing liquidity to the international system. In Latin America these have come through the IMF but also through agreements with the US central bank (FED).
In the context of the bankruptcy of companies, hotels, restaurant chains and the loss of investment grade, the US has seen a doubling of dividends per share versus earnings per share in banking. In these conditions, stock markets have, on the contrary, shown a strong recovery, even reaching new highs (Nasdaq).
The increase in liquidity by the FED and the central bank has allowed the stock exchanges to recover without a recovery in production, and high levels of unemployment, low levels of consumption and destruction of production, in a contradiction that leads to an increase in the already existing inequality.

The food picture is complicated for much of the world, especially for vulnerable countries, by two particular factors: the fall in population income that the pandemic has produced and the confinement of the world's economies.
Food trade has become more complicated in terms of distribution networks, leading to higher food prices. This crisis has put the costs and benefits of food dependence on the free market into perspective.
How food is produced and distributed is in question since most countries have the capacity to produce food themselves and do not need to rely on long supply chains to feed their people.