The COVID-19 vaccine will play a very important role in how economies of developing nations such as Fiji fares within the next year or so.
As the COVID-19 vaccine rollout becomes widespread throughout this year, the World Bank, in its January 2021 Global Economic Prospects report, says countries in our region could experience difficulties with procurement and distribution of the vaccine than currently anticipated.
World Bank Acting Vice President for Equitable Growth and Financial Institutions, Ayhan Kose, says it is very important to note what role the vaccine plays.
“If there are some supply bottlenecks, if there is some hesitation to get immunized, by chunks of society, then we might end up with a much weaker growth outcomes. In fact, global growth could go all the way down to 1.6 percent.”
The World Bank says that COVID-19 has caused a global recession whose depth was surpassed only by the two World Wars and the Great Depression over the past century and a half.
It says although global economic activity is growing again, it is not likely to return to business as usual for the foreseeable future.
