Regarding economic policy, monetary policy is reacting positively. It is aimed at stabilizing interest rates and thereby reducing the inflationary pressures that have recently arisen. This takes pressure off the objective of achieving economic growth, which is the desire of all countries.
In the battle against the pandemic, although there are very clear regulations from the World Health Organization supported by scientific research, convincing activism has been needed to neutralize the denialism that has emerged in many important countries against the measures that have been adopted. taken to overcome the crisis due to the pandemic.
In Germany, the anti-covid anti-vaccine movement maintains that the vaccine affects DNA and that the mask can lead to death. In the United States, the QAnon group, which was the one that carried out the assault on the Capitol in January 2021, maintains that vaccination is part of a diabolical plan.
In Argentina, the group “Doctors for the truth” argues that the entire operation of vaccinating, wearing face masks and carrying out tests is absurd and that covid is remedied with chlorine dioxide. Faced with these occurrences, the World Health Organization points out that “The Omicrom will infect more than half of the European population in seven weeks (…) it is normal for new variants to be produced and they do not have to be mild”.
The economic effect of the pandemic is that it makes investments resistant due to their aversion to risk. It also affects supply chains, which are what are marking the productive interdependence of many countries, including ours.
Regarding economic policy, monetary policy is reacting positively. It is aimed at stabilizing interest rates and thereby reducing the inflationary pressures that have recently arisen. This takes pressure off the objective of achieving economic growth, which is the desire of all countries.
It is desirable that President Biden’s plan for public spending on infrastructure has the approval of Congress, where there is significant resistance. It would not only benefit the inside of his country, but also countries like Mexico, which have strong interdependence, as well as European countries, political and economic allies of the United States.
There are clouds in the geopolitical terrain. The conflict in Ukraine stands out, where there are two active participants. The United States militarily supports Ukraine and Russia, it has 100,000 soldiers on the borders with Ukraine, ready to invade this country. President Biden has expressed that he will not intervene directly to defend Ukraine from attack. The fiasco in Afghanistan weighs on him. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) warns that diplomacy may fail in Ukraine.
Another front is the conflict between the United States and China, in the case of Taiwan. The United States maintains that this country should be independent from China, which claims it.
A third geopolitical conflict is Iran, which is already a nuclear state. Negotiations for a new agreement with the main world powers have not been achieved. Meanwhile, Israel is considering carrying out attacks against Iranian nuclear facilities.
Disasters due to climate change continue and far from warning of their danger to carry out the promised tasks, rhetoric abounds. Investments to decarbonise economies are slow and droughts are causing food prices to rise and population migrations have also increased.
The pandemic, which to the surprise of governments and peoples reaches high levels of contagion, the dangers of climate change and geopolitical problems suggest more politics, more diplomacy, more positive results.
smota@eleconomista.com.mx
Economist
Economy and Society
Writer and graduate in economics, graduated from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. From 1984 to 1990 he was the Mexican ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark, where he was decorated with the Dannebrog order.
