Financial support for small States to rebound from COVID-19 paramount – President Ali

President Irfaan Ali on Wednesday highlighted the importance of financial support to small States in order for them to rebound from the devastating impact caused by the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

He was at the time addressing the United Nations Meeting of Heads of Government and State on Financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond. The UN convened this initiative with Canada and Jamaica.
The Head of State told the UN during his virtual address that Guyana was cognisant of the pressing need to collectively pursue a comprehensive and multi-faceted approach to effectively combat the COVID-19 pandemic and to secure a path towards sustainable recovery.
“It is, therefore, of paramount importance that today’s deliberations pave the way for financial support to help small States rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic,” the President stated.
According to President Ali, the pandemic, already a dire health emergency, is upending economic growth, reversing decades of development, derailing progress towards the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals, and intensifying poverty and inequality. He added that COVID-19 has also worsened unemployment and weakening health and education systems.
“As a consequence, developing countries are expected, in the near term, to experience widening fiscal deficits, the narrowing of fiscal space, reduced external financing inflows and increasing debt. Small States, with undiversified economies and limited resources, will find it difficult to satisfy their immediate development and recovery needs,” he posited.
The Guyanese Head of State went on to say that the UN, which he recognised as the world’s foremost multilateral organisation, must spearhead the global response to the pandemic.
At the health level, he noted that the response should involve increased access To Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) for frontline health workers; the provision of therapeutics and equipment for patient treatment, and the rollout of and support for mass immunisation programmes when a vaccine becomes available.
On the socio-economic front, President Ali contended that it was imperative that global resources be mobilised to ensure a return to a sustainable development trajectory. He said resources must be made available expeditiously, using a variety of financial mechanisms which include debt relief, debt-service moratoriums, concessional financing capitalisation of deferred interest payments, and grants.
These measures, according to the President, will facilitate Developing States’ recovery.
In the same breath, however, the Guyanese leader pointed out that the pandemic has highlighted and exacerbated global and societal inequalities.
“Addressing these inequalities must become integral to the global and national responses,” he asserted.
In this regard, President Ali lauded the sentiments of UN Secretary General António Guterres in this year’s Mandela Lecture, in which he clearly set out such challenges and the actions that are necessary. The President noted that SG Guterres’ call for a “New Social Contract and a New Global Deal” was an apt response to both the pandemic and the inequalities which exacerbate its effects.
“A New Global Deal, as envisaged by the Secretary General, will allow for the effective transfer of resources – financial, intellectual and technological – to developing countries. It will facilitate, also, a fairer sharing of the benefits of globalisation. A New Social Contract, in turn, will ensure the effective use of these resources to ensure that States remain on a sustainable development trajectory,” he stressed.
Moreover, the Guyanese leader expressed confidence that the world would defeat this pandemic and with political will, also reduce global and societal inequalities.
He further added that it was important that as the world recovered and rebuilt, it initiated a ‘new era’ where illnesses were anticipated and prevented instead of scrambling to cure them; where every child receives a quality education; where the elderly enjoys a dignified life; where everyone has access to food, health care, housing and water and where diversity and human rights are respected.
“Establishing this new era in global relations will require significant development support, more so now in the face of an impending global recession. For many small States, the burden of recovery from the pandemic will be too great to bear on their own… It is equally vital that the Secretary General’s calls for a New Global Deal and New Social Contract be pursued with promptness to ensure that recovery is aligned to reducing inequalities,” the Head of State stressed.
President Ali concluded by telling the UN that these proposals represented a way forward in a post-COVID-19 era and it was their responsibility to ensure the future is one of prosperity and equality. (G8)