Small states require extraordinary financing in COVID-19 fight-President Granger
President David Granger
President David Granger

…in address to High Level United Nations virtual meeting

While noting that the states bordering Guyana have a high level of COVID-19 cases, President David Granger in a virtual address to the United Nations today said that given the pandemic’s multi-dimensional nature, small states require extraordinary financial support in its fight against the disease.

The High-level Meeting tackled the critical finance issue to address economic devastation caused by COVID-19.
The Prime Ministers of Canada, Justin Trudeau , Prime Minister of Jamaica,Andrew Holness  and UN Secretary-General António Guterres  convened the special high-level meeting to advance concrete solutions to the development emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The President said that Guyana, one of the smallest states in South America, is bordered by countries with a high level of COVID-19.He said migrants from these countries seek refuge to enter Guyana’s territory and enter areas which necessitates delivery of effective health services over long distances and to remote settlements

“These factors impact the states ability from disease and to earn revenue to  protect its people,” the President said noting that Guyana’s challenges are compounded by its COVID-19 fight.

President Granger noted that small states need sturdy and structured systems to save lives and support livelihoods.

He said that in the medium and long term, “we must build capacity to respond effectively and efficiently” when faced with health crisis which he noted, are predicted to occur more frequently.

In the long term, he said that countries must achieve food security through sustaining agriculture and  manufacturing services so that when economies reopen, the private and public  sectors will be capable of rapid production.

He said that in the short term,however, states are obliged to respond to urgent,unavoidable and unanticipated effects of COVID-19.He said that the public health sectors requires costly and necessary assets.

President Granger noted that members recognise that given the multi-dimensional nature of COVID-19, extraordinary financing must be directed to support small states.He recommended three ways in which this can be done

-respond immediately to the life-saving exigencies  of the pandemic

-develop holistic long-term recovery plans and exit strategies

-build capacity to establish permanent public health structures to prepare for future global diseases

The President commended the governments and institutions which have supported the flow of resources to small states such as Guyana.

The virtual meeting opened with a High-Level Segment in which Heads of State and Government expressed their commitment to decisively facilitate global solutions to address the global economic crisis and its effects on the most vulnerable.
A High-Level Panel of leaders from international institutions will discuss the challenges and opportunities to act quickly on the six issues.

Those issues are:

-The need to expand liquidity in the global economy and maintain financial stability to safeguard development gains.

-The need to address debt vulnerabilities for all developing countries to save lives and livelihoods for billions of people around the world.

-The need to create a space in which private sector creditors can proactively engage in effective and timely solutions.

-Prerequisites for enhancing external finance for inclusive growth and creating jobs, including lowering the transactions costs of remittances.

-Measures to expand fiscal space and foster domestic resource mobilization by preventing illicit financial flows.

-Ensuring a sustainable and inclusive recovery by aligning recovery policies with the Sustainable Development Goals.

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