People wearing protective masks walk the main shopping street in Munich, Germany, during the coronavirus crisis on April 30, 2020.
Alexander Hassenstein / Getty Images
LONDON – Some countries’ “inward-looking national agenda” in response to coronavirus pandemic is threatening global resilience after crisis, panelist suggested behind Economic Forum’s 2021 global risk report World Cup.
Carolina Klint, risk management leader for continental Europe at Marsh & McLennan, told CNBC’s Geoff Cutmore on Monday that there were lessons to be learned about the collaboration needed to develop coronavirus vaccines in an “unprecedented speed”.
However, he added that the “national internship agenda” of some countries was “a point of concern”.
His comments come as some richer countries are criticized by advocates for “hoarding” more doses of coronavirus vaccines than they need, while lower-income countries struggle to get enough shots to immunize their populations. . An Amnesty International report in December raised concerns about “vaccine nationalism,” and designated the United Kingdom, the United States, the EU, Japan, Canada and Australia as the largest advanced buyers of doses of vaccine.
On Tuesday, World Health Organization co-chair of the independent pandemic review panel, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, shared her disappointment that “vaccine deployment is currently favoring rich countries.”
Zombie companies; asset bubbles
Klint said the “substantial” stimulus packages that governments had injected into their respective economies in the immediate response to the pandemic also coincided with the “continuing trend toward self-sufficiency that has been accelerated by Covid-19.” .
He added that there was a risk of “business zombification” if stimulus packages were not “properly structured”.
“So it’s really a perfect storm brewing here,” he said.
So-called zombie companies are considered backward companies that need debt to operate or earn enough to survive and service. This has been a concern in the midst of the pandemic with increased support for government companies and central banks.
Similarly, Klint warned of asset bubbles (when an investment rises rapidly in prices driven by market momentum rather than the underlying fundamentals) as another potential risk.
It is perhaps not surprising that infectious diseases were considered the highest impact threat of the next decade, in the WEF’s annual global risk report. In comparison, in January 2019 the spread of infectious diseases was ranked as the tenth highest risk in terms of potential impact in the next 10 years.
In its first global risk report in 2006, WEF highlighted the threat of an influenza pandemic as one of the four key risks. He warned that a “lethal flu, its spread facilitated by global travel patterns and not contained with insufficient warning mechanisms, would pose an acute threat.”
The annual report is based on the WEF Global Risk Perception Survey, completed by more than 650 members of the forum’s “diverse leadership communities”.
According to 60% of respondents, in this year’s risk report, infectious diseases, along with subsistence crises, were the main short-term threats to the world.
Klint added that: “The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way we think about risk, it has raised awareness that disasters that could cause death and mass destruction can happen.”
WEF respondents considered the most likely risks of the next decade to be extreme weather events, the failure of climate action, and human-caused environmental damage. This continued the trend in last year’s report, in which the top five global long-term risks were related to environmental issues.
In addition to employment and livelihood crises, digital inequality and youth disillusionment were among the most imminent threats in the world, with the report’s focus on widening the social gaps caused by the pandemic.