Countries in Latin America are implementing stimulus packages and tax relief programs to bolster their economies as the region is currently at the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This comes as Latin America’s economy is projected to shrink by 9.1 percent in 2020 due to the pandemic, according to a report of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
Meanwhile, four countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have ranked among the world’s top ten countries most affected by the pandemic in terms of confirmed cases.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Brazil ranks second, only after the United States and with its case tally surpassing 2.4 million on Monday. It was followed by Peru, Chile and Mexico at the regional level, each with over 300,000 cases.
To deal with the economic fallout from the pandemic, some countries have taken measures to facilitate resumption of work and production amid the severe pandemic situation.
Both Brazil and Ecuador started to resume work in early June, while Peru lifted its mandatory quarantine measures in early July. The governments of Chile and Argentina announced measures to ease quarantine and restore the economy the same month.
However, due to the conflict between epidemic prevention and work resumption, some countries that resumed work earlier have seen a rebound of the pandemic.
Nevertheless, many countries in this region have continued to introduce policies to stimulate economic recovery. In the past week, Colombia unveiled a series policies including tax reforms and increasing investment in areas that can provide more jobs such as infrastructure.
On July 24, the Argentine government announced to a new round of emergency funding for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), while the Chilean government launched a bailout plan worth 17 billion U.S. dollars to support small and medium sized enterprises.
Published By Harry Miller
harrymiller@canadanewsmedia.ca
Related
