Well bring you developments from around the outside. With updates about travel restrictions and how to protect your. Special coverage on aljazeera. Than this is counting the cost on aljazeera your weekly look at the world of business and economics this week. Health services in rich nations are struggling to cope with the coronavirus pandemic so what about poor nations will the world banks multibillion dollar fund be enough to help developing countries. Putting people before a debt crisis argentina gets money into the hands of families to fight the Economic Impacts of the pandemic. And from helicopter money to universal basic income could we see more governments picking up last paychecks to keep the economy and businesses alive. The world bank and the International Monetary fund the calling on creditor nations to provide debt relief to the worlds poorest nations amid the coronavirus pandemic rich nations have deployed unlimited funding to combat the pandemic and its Economic Cost the United States and Federal Reserve of so far pledge 6 trillion dollars but poorer nations dont have the financial firepower of the worlds richest nations so the move to ease the pressure on the poorest nations comes at a crucial time Health Services in rich nations are being stretched by the crisis developing and poor nations will require support the world bank is making available 12000000000. 00 to support health and primary Care Services in low and middle income nations and the i. M. F. Has made 50000000000. 00 available to support emerging markets are rising powers are also under pressure india for example where 1300000000. 00 people are on the lockdown spends 3. 7 percent of its g. D. P. On health care thats less than china which spends almost 5 percent according to data from the world bank. And the next hot spot for the pandemic could be africa according to the economist more than half of african countries are above the i. M. F. Recommended limit for public debt if yo piers Prime Minister abu ahmed has called on the g 20 to provide 150000000000. 00 in emergency funding for the continent now south africa is in lockdown for 3 weeks for a country that is in its 2nd recession in as many years it can ill afford to shut down the economy the countrys Health Care System is already struggling and people there worry the covert 19 pandemic could overwhelm it entirely aljazeera as for media miller reports from johannesburg. Doctors detected the 1st case of cold 1000 in south africa in early march over the past few weeks hundreds more have been treated for the virus. As the government tries to contain the outbreak many are worried 28 year old stepson watter is one of the 7000000 south africans with hiv he says with an already compromised immune system his priority is to keep safe it feels like its another. Reload of a sort their reaction really ill evolute and something that has got a lot of fear and words People Living with hiv it was in their denial of seeing what if they get infected whats going to happen why dont you since thats whats the next steps millions like to pull have no option but to use often overcrowded public transport while private taxi operators have promised to disinfect and provide Hand Sanitizer many have been slow to implement the new guidelines Public Hospitals and clinics are normally crowded with people waiting for hours to see a doctor they are concerned the corona virus could easily spread when you come to our part of the world our public Health Care Systems are broken our intensive care units are full even before we get to covert 19 so again theres a real danger and this is why i think we need International Support for africa we need a mobilization of resources poor water and sanitation infrastructure in parts of south africa mean that many may not be able to wash their hands as often as they should increasing the risk of contracting cold 1000 in upmarket suburbs like this one homes in spaces a large states a wide its easier for people to keep apart but for millions of others the reality is quite different thousands of townships across south africa are overcrowded dozens of families share one toilet streets aligned with rubbish and people have little if any space to themselves the government is using t. V. Radio and the internet to spread awareness. As quickly as possible and as promised quarantine spaces for people who dont have their own its close schools and banned gatherings of more than 100 people compared to europe and asia african countries have fewer reported cases of the virus but some experts priory that poorly equipped Public Health systems are failing to spot the true total and warn the continent should prepare for the worst. Aljazeera of Johannesburg South africa. Joining us now via skype from oxford is andrew follow hes a senior fellow at the Oxford Martin school at the university of oxford good to have you with us so with Health Care Systems now clearly lacking things like ventilators protective suits even staff has this crisis shown just how wrong past funding policy has been towards the Health Care Systems yes weve known about the risks of this happening for me a long long time the World Health Organization added to its party watch list what it called disease acts a Serious International epidemic caused by a pathogen currently unknown cause human disease and common 1000 turns out to be that the disease acts spread by a virus weve known this for a long time we know that half of the 1400 also one pathogens have their origins in animals weve had 100 in emerging infections the last century 345 have gone global 3 in what will in plans and next hiv aids weve known about this for a long long time the goal well community has been writing reports that its a long long time there was a report just a few years ago he said that all it would take to be repaired was about 4 half 1000000000 a year which is less than a dollar. On the planet to be better prepared what were talking why arent we you know whats been lacking money or political ideology and will. Erma not well money because of the lack of because of the lack of attention of the political system perhaps i mean weve had. Calls from time on its to pop out of this for some while now one of the problems of course is that this is a disease while it is an event its a small probability has a terrible impact when it happens or sort of political systems perhaps theyre very well with those sorts of things they d. Prioritize them and theyre the key thing about this its you know weve had opportunity and the resources that would have been the clients be more ready. You know could have been made available and havent weve invested in in you know antiterrorism that were talking about something that matches that matches more than that it matches any wars of that with disasters and. Theres been calls to do with the climate under best and in this area for a long time its political but its also you know maybe the way in which we deep we dont spot these things we dont climatized not very good globally at dealing with these these sorts of of events or i guess this crisis is also demonstrated the need for more Government Intervention in Public Health issues in the private sectors and they cant face this alone do you think that will change attitudes in places like the u. S. Towards public funding of health Care Services its a curious one because you know i just mentioned that the u. S. Is actually on the metrics of preparedness is up at the top supposedly and yet you know chuck was on the t. V. The other day preparing the nation for you know several 100000 deaths the trajectory the hopes of the u. S. But one of over several 1000000 deaths so you know he was tipped to change this is a success for getting that i want to control you know that teaches says that actually being prepared you also need to be prepared and have good Political Leadership and in coordination at the top. One of the issues with the u. S. System you asked about you know reform of the u. S. One of the issues it has of course is it has vast numbers of its population who want not covered by that system and dont have Health Insurance so when they get ill or they get suspicion of being ill certainly in the early days of a pandemic there were lots of things in the system operated against them actually doing something about it or going and getting tested going right and heard that it was people trying to avoid getting tests because they cant afford the financial burden that puts on them right. Thats correct theres that plus of course. Thats numbers of the population who live you know fairly low on the breadline you know when we say to them you have to isolate yourself you have to separate yourself you have to basically do everything they your part to get the what we call the base of a production out to get the number of people that you potentially might in fact to get that down low because at the moment it is more than 2 or 3 that means everybody gets infected spreads to 2. 00 to 2. 00 or 3 more and thats not the typically more out of that so to break that you have to tell people to do things that are actually to something we can actually damaging to them and eat a system that protects them so in the us the way in which the Health System is set up and to some degree the Social Security system is set up it operates against the very measures that we actually need to see people. Taking let me jump on a sentence you said you know the need to get people to do things that might be against their immediate economic or financial interests when it comes to developing countries whove got an even bigger problem right if you look at india for example theyve got a lock down there a lot of people in the formal economy now are going without jobs i. E. Without income i. E. You know without food is that sort you know is the the lockdown in the approach to coronavirus going to become perhaps as big or perhaps even a bigger threat to people than the actual coronavirus yes i mean the problem with lockdowns is that lock downs are not ultimately the end solution theyre not the exit strategy bait they keep that the numbers down they stop the exponential Growth Numbers that you know if people actually do isolate and under those circumstances the problem that were facing in a lot of developing countries is of course that there are systems to feed. If you dont go out and get a job or if you dont go out and do something so developing a 100 trees cant afford to give everyone 12 or 1500. 00 right so thats an issue thats thats correct but the thing about the lot and all it what its doing is its buying time line to get ready its buying time time to get that test test test up and going its buying time to put interventions in place but think about the lot if it actually works and its the same in the u. K. As it will be in india if it works and it actually causes the pandemic to subside the critical it factor that is going to be how many people are actually immune within that society if it turns out that only 10 or 20 percent in the u. K. Ever got infected and that therefore he knew removing the lock down would be quite tough because youre inflicting you know on a population that putting a population back into a situation where they could still get the virus so the key thing about both in india out africa brazil ive been interacting with police abuse parts of the world all over this week you know the the that theyre very afraid that you know even with the lock down theres a whole raft of problems coming along for it to actually achieve its long term aim which is to protect human life right its been a fascinating discussion thank you so much for talking to us and to follow. The pandemic threatens to wreck the worlds most cash strapped countries in argentina 2 years of recession of resulted in almost 10 percent unemployment thats expected to rise significantly after some of latin americas strength this lockdown measures were imposed aljazeera stories about reports from one side of us. The streets of argentinas capital when a site is are empty these days after the government imposed a look down in the country but soup kitchens like this one cannot afford to shut down. Constanza says the amount of people coming year has doubled in the past few days and the local guy called mia people used to come here and sit down they could take a shower and spend some time things have changed but the amount of people coming has doubled many cant work and cant survive with the lock down and others live on the streets. Here argentinas economy was already struggling with recession and the possibility of default on its sovereign debt before fighting the covert 19 became a priority for this countrys government life is difficult for many in argentina his days as a rise of unemployment from poverty and the impact that the lock down cost by the corner virus is having and the economy for many coming to this place is the only chance they have to eat at least once a day job or certainty that he will be out yes but its not just the poor that i belong affected they must. Be going on silas works as a taxi driver in the city he says hes worried with the impact over 1000 could have in the country but hes unsure how he will survive if the lockdown continues hes 60 years old and this taxi is the only way he has of making a living. Or youre going to get the most big moment situation is very very serious i have to pay a rent and i cannot make any money im not sure what is going to happen we are authorized to be on the street but theres more people. Even though the lockdown is supposed to last until the end of the month the government might extended for a longer period it has also warned private creditors that argentinas economic recoveries uncertain and that its debt crisis could be prolonged due to the coronavirus pandemic. Economy minister meddling old man says the priority right now is. Cysteine argentine families with extra income to survive for the next few weeks. You konami connectivity is minimal because the lockdown in this leaves a lot of people with anguish and desperation but we want to make sure that every person that lives in argentina is protected see the situation. Precedent elbereth off a man there says hes prioritizing saving lives over the Economic Situation those who need the governments help say its the only way bill survive in the weeks ahead. And just when our scientists. Now is more than 2000000000 people go into lockdown many living from paycheck to paycheck gig and informal economy workers us about to lose their livelihoods the number of people filing for Unemployment Benefits rose to more than 3000000 people in the United States alone has the biggest surge on record rich nations have stepped in to cover last paychecks as part of the 2. 00 trillion dollars stimulus Many Americans who receive up to 1200 dollars plus 500. 00 per child in the United Kingdom the government has offered to cover 80 percent of workers monthly pay up to 2. 00 and a half 1000 pounds and in hong kong residents were sent checks for one 1200. 00 each when Central Banks print money its called helicopter money an idea 1st introduced in 1969 by Nobel Prize Winning economist Milton Friedman the idea to get money directly into the hands of consumers some see it as a better way to revive an economy lets bring in our guest joining us now via skype from london is alfie sterling hes the head of economics at the new Economics Foundation thanks for joining us so some governments in developed countries and now giving money directly to people rather than to the banks as they did in the last financial crisis is this the right approach do you think. Yeah i think you know direct bailout if you like for people is absolutely the key priority in this crisis and actually weve probably had too little of it and particularly in the u. K. And other European Countries certainly in the u. S. And the priorities being actually to turn immediately for the banks its almost as if governments are expecting to fight the last battle the financial crisis and that they were ready to get money back we really needed here was to bail out people who are losing their jobs this crisis as a result of social isolation of people not being able to go to work so funneling money directly to people to Read Peoples Bank accounts is the correct approach right it is true people are losing their jobs but people are losing their jobs in the last financial crisis too why do you think governments in some of the developing developed countries now more convinced with a direct bailout rather than trickle down economics. Its partly because of the source of the crisis and the immediacy of the crisis as well so last time we know that the source of the problem in 2008 was that banks wasnt what lending so giving money to the banks was tackling the problem at source now i would argue actually not enough was done in 2008 to address other symptoms as well in terms of direct money for families that this time the problem is unavoidable so to give you an example just how much more severe this crisis is in 2 weeks weve had a 1000000 people in the u. K. Sign up for unemployment benefit support in 2008 it took 3 years before the unemployment count reached 1000000 so i repeat again 2 weeks 1000000 people so the crisis is on a different level in terms of unemployment this time around which is whats necessitating this much more rapid much more urgent response from government or i but will it create also problems on a much different level i. E. Inflation debt. So it all response at the moment from government will have to be financed through debt whether its loans through the banks whether its. Providing grants to companies whether its providing income support to people its very unlikely to be inflation at this moment in time and thats because people have stopped spending people are spending because theyve lost their jobs and theyve lost their income so boring from government and jet and cash into the economy is replacing that lost income which means its not going to be inflationary in the medium term if that were to be inflation thats actually a sign of the economy warming up again and recovery and Central Banks are able to adjust Interest Rates to absorb that but in the short term the real crisis is we dont have enough inflation dont have enough spending pressure in the economy because people lost their incomes is this something that developing countries can emulate in the past developing countries often been told to watch out for inflation when it comes to printing money and putting it in the hands of people right why is it different for developed countries. One of the relevant points here is this concept of fiscal space and how much room governments have to borrow before Interest Rates start to rise very rapidly on that theyre developed economies and particularly developed economies have an independent currency have a lot of space to borrow and to issue bonds to markets in a way that doesnt rapidly increase Interest Rates and thats partly because ultimately the central bank can always step in and step behind government but if youre a developing economy or youre not part where you have an independent currency you might be heavily reliant on the dollar for example then youre not able to issue issue funds in your own currency in a way that markets trust and want to lend to so can become more of a problem so there is that is true of Different Countries at different amount of fiscal space and that will affect the extent to which government can intervene but but right now that such is the scale of the crisis were facing as are such as the shock to economies that every government in the world will have will have a significant amount of room to pass cash on to families like to pick your brain another if you are government there well its kind of related to this question are governments in some developed countries now moving towards the concept of universal basic income in all but name so i think this isnt happening in most countries United States have clearly gone down a route that looks looks a bit like this and that they passed on 1200. 00 i believe to american president s want us to 100 per person to that is similar to. A universal basic income in some forms but many countries havent most European Countries are actually stepped in to protect jobs directly so the government has stepped in and guaranteed a portion of salaries and thats different to basic income because its actually saying we want people to keep their job and well pay part of salary temporarily so that when the crisis ends the job is still there its automatically still in place right up until those countries i use their words can we say that theyre moving towards u. B. I. I would fear that they are not because you tend to see u. B. I. In this war situation the most attractive in countries where the social safety net was weakest going into the crisis there was very little in place beforehand which necessitates something very rapid very quick very simple like e. B. I. Type payment but of course its also very easy and quick to reverse as well if you introduce a temporary payment a one off check as a thing in the u. S. Theres no reason why that then is retained beyond the crisis period so the temp repayment yes i dont know if this is a permanent strengthening of the United StatesSocial Security system could it become more this actually leads into another question i mean could it become a sort of new economic model post the Coronavirus Crisis where at least if not the whole of you could be i but from of the concepts of universal basic income sort of catch on as a new way of doing things. I think thats a really really important question and i think its really hard for us to know how the politics or Lessons Learned all that in the future context within which policymakers will operates always very hard to predict which lessons to learn during a crisis i would say i would hope that its inconceivable that countries like the u. K. Like the u. S. Will go into another crisis was so screw the systems so weak as the ones that both countries went into this crisis with we had very very weak safety nets not enough protection people losing their jobs now thats not the same as saying countries will adopt a universal basic income in future and thats partly because the big question of universal basic income is not is it a solution its is it the best solution any given point in time and i think many countries will look at it and think well actually given a certain amount of Public Resources were better off getting targeted funds for people that need it rather than universal payments to everyone and actually if we want to get on the universal route its probably better to provide universal services so Housing Services that are even cheap or free or subsidize potentially food certainly Public Transport Services that provide that reduce the cost of living is a mock can often be much more fish and Cost Effective way for government provides a whole thing interesting talking thanks so much alfie. 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One of the really special things that work in progress here is that even as a camera woman i get to have so much input in contribution to a story i feel we cover this region better than anyone else would be for us as you know its very challenging the belief but to be there because you have a lot of people that are divided on political issues we are we the people we live to tell the real story so ill just mend it is to deliver indepth journalism we dont feel inferior to the audience across the globe. Form. Because. This is far in the yemen war the study Led Coalition announces a 2 week break to help peace efforts in the fight against coronavirus. Matheson and this is all to syria live from doha also coming up new york states reaches a grim new tali war cases the whole of spain the president strong is optimistic. So will be over that curve will be over the