Bitcoin's sudden drop in value, triggered by the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange company FTX, dealt a "deadly blow" to the Central American nation of El Salvador. The most [.]
Endemic corruption, poor governance and democratic backsliding have plagued much of Central America for decades. Since 2014, more than two million people, many of them undocumented, are estimated to have fled the so-called Northern Triangle countries of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador across the US border to escape corruption, violence, organised crime and poverty.
BRATISLAVA , May 18 2021 (IPS) – Poverty and income inequality are being deepened as COVID-19 relief funds are handed out to large corporations instead of social protection programmes in developing countries, groups involved in a new study of COVID-19 bailouts have said.
The large part of COVID-19 relief funds is going to big corporation. People who are likely to have been impacted the most by the pandemic in the Global South, such as smaller businesses, marginalised communities, women, and those in poverty, have been left out. Credit: Dionny Matos/IPS
A report by the Financial Transparency Coalition (FTC) civil society group showed that the vast majority of COVID-19 recovery funds in nine developing countries have gone to big corporations instead of toward welfare, small firms, or those working in the informal economy.
“The way COVID-19 relief has been implemented has worsened marginalisation, poverty, and inequality, including income, gender, and other inequalities, in some countries,” Matti Kohonen, FTC Director, told IPS.
“The large part of these relief funds is going to big corporations, but the people who are likely to have been impacted most by the pandemic in the Global South, such as smaller businesses, marginalised communities, women, and those in poverty, have been left out,” he said.
In what the group says is the first major analysis of public bailout funds disbursed in developing countries during the pandemic, FTC members looked at their use in Kenya, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Bangladesh, Nepal, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, and India.