Driven by the US and China, the world economy will make a wonderful return this year from its deepest contraction since the Great Depression, economists say.
For many developing countries, however, 2021 looks a lot like 2020, with the pandemic still raging and deepening poverty.
“Here in Washington, DC, people are literally talking about the roaring 20s and, you know, letting the doors fly off the US economy,” said Geoffrey Okamoto, the first deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund. “But the harsh reality is for the poorest countries: they are not looking at vaccines that will be administered to them until next year,” which means a slower economic recovery and more pain for the poor.
José Luís Rosas, a guide at the Machu Picchu ruins in Peru, survived 2020 by deducting his pension and transferring his two young daughters from private to public school. Now, with foreign tourists likely not to return this year, a slow vaccination rate and increasing Covid-19 infections, Mr. Rosas said he may have no choice but to move his family to his parents’ remote village to grow avocados, mangoes and lemons.
“I just work to eat, to buy cooking gas and some meat,” he said. “There’s nothing to save – the only thing I’m working on is surviving.”