The G20 pledges US$60 billion for post-COVID recovery

The G20 finance ministers and central bank governors pledged this Friday in Jakarta to allocate US$60 billion (about 52.8 billion euros) to support the most needy countries in post-COVID recovery.

In a joint statement after two days of meeting, the ministers and governors declared that they will try to increase the commitment to US $ 100,000 million (about 888,300 million euros) to accelerate the exit from the crisis due to the pandemic.

“We will continue to support vulnerable countries affected by the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure that we all recover together,” they stated in the consensus document.

However, the partners acknowledged that the recovery from the pandemic is uneven due to unbalanced access to COVID-19 vaccines, while warning of risks such as inflation and supply chain disruption.

The statement, which was delayed several hours due to the lack of initial consensus, also mentioned the work to improve the efficiency and transparency of the international financial system, as well as the need to fight climate change, although it did not mention the instability due to the crisis around Ukraine.

Hours earlier, the Indonesian Finance Minister, Sri Mulyani, told a conference that they are negotiating “multilateral agreements” to support, above all, developing countries to fight against embezzlement and tax evasion with measures to be applied from 2023. .

“Many countries need technical assistance, starting with their legislation,” said the minister, whose country chairs this year’s G20, which includes the 20 largest economies in the world, including the United States, China, Russia, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom Kingdom, India, Brazil and Argentina.

The day before, the Indonesian president, Joko Widodo, emphasized the collaboration between “regions” to ensure global economic growth and warned that, in times like this, “this is not the time for rivalries or to create new tensions that alter the recovery and global security, like what is happening in Ukraine.”

The meeting, which combined physical meetings with telematics, focused on strategies for economic recovery, in full adjustment of monetary policies by many countries, digital payment systems, sustainable finance, financial inclusion and international taxation.

The appointment takes place while Indonesia, the country most affected by COVID-19 in Southeast Asia, this week suffers record numbers of daily infections, above 57,000, the highest count in one day since the pandemic began.

The current situation, due in part to the impact of the omicron variant, led Indonesia to decide to hold the meetings in Jakarta and not in Bali, as planned, as vaccination rates in the capital are higher.

In addition to the finance leaders of the G20 countries, the meeting was attended by representatives of invited nations and organizations, such as the World Bank or the World Health Organization (WHO), including its director, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.