Events
GPI and BAU addressed the economic repercussions of the fight against coronavirus
On April 16, 2020 the Global Policy Institute and Bay Atlantic University held an online panel discussion with international participation titled:
The Global Economy and the Coronavirus Pandemic
Watch the full event here.
The Panelists included:
Professor Luis Coelho, Assistant Professor of Finance, University of Algarve, Faro, Portugal
Jennifer Hoffman, Senior Vice President, Global Risk Intel, Washington, DC
Alan Kessler, CEO, African Discovery Group, New York City
Paolo von Schirach, GPI President, and Chair of Political Science and International Relations at BAU, moderated the discussion.
To date, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has infected more than two million people across the globe. Sadly, it has caused more than 143,000 deaths. Governments reacted to this enormous public health threat by imposing now well known “social distancing” measures and by ordering what amounts now to a global shutdown of most economic activities. This is an unprecedented situation of a government-ordered global recession, imposed on the most important world economies with the goal of saving lives.
Jennifer Hoffman noted that at the moment the focus has to be on the diligent implementation of all the contagion mitigation orders, even though they cause enormous economic damage. Luis Coelho pointed out that while the public health situation in Portugal is far less dramatic than in other Southern European countries such Spain and Italy, the economic repercussion are severe, since Portugal was barely regaining ground after the fiscal crisis of 2011. He added that Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece will need some kind of bailout from the EU and the European Central Bank. Alan Kessler, whose expertise is African economic development, pointed out that, after the end of the pandemic, many global corporations will be inclined to restructure their outsourcing and supply chains away from China and Asia. This will present an opportunity for African countries whose workers are now far better educated and therefore capable to execute more complex operations. Regarding the staggering cost of the measures aimed at alleviating the economic pain of this unprecedented situation, Jennifer Hoffman argued that, while the fiscal burden is heavy, it is bearable. All panelists agreed that the major lesson to be learned here is that better cooperation and new partnerships will have to be created so that the global community will have the necessary tools to face the next crisis.