Costa Rica reiterates call for international collaboration to face Covid

The president of Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado, defended Monday before an international panel the creation of a fund financed by industrialized countries to face the global economic devastation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Fund Against the Covid-19 Economy (FACE), defended by Alvarado, would be financed with 0.7% of the GDP of the world’s largest economies and distributed by multilateral development banks with favorable terms for lower-income countries.

“Today, we must ask ourselves: ‘What have we achieved through multilateralism in the last year? Have we done enough?’” said the Costa Rican president.

President Alvarado made his request at a debate convened by the Secretary General of the UN, António Guterres, the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau and the Prime Minister of Jamaica, Andrew Holness.

The meeting focused on finding solutions to increase global liquidity, extending debt service suspension to middle-income countries, and providing debt relief when necessary.

Costa Rica, with 5 million inhabitants, has suffered a strong health impact from Covid-19 — with at least 2,931 deaths — as well as an economic crisis.