Gestión fiscal

The COVID-19 pandemic had strong economic and social impacts that have exacerbated the problems of inequality between rich and poor. While the wealthier classes were able to preserve their jobs and work remotely, many low-income workers lost their sources of income overnight, or saw their incomes shrink dramatically. This increase in inequality, coupled with large fiscal deficits, has led several countries in the world and in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) to consider introducing or reforming wealth taxes, either permanently or temporarily.

The need to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of public spending in Latin America and the Caribbean has become increasingly urgent, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, a crisis that has impacted economic activity by, on one hand, reducing public revenues and, on the other, increasing pressure for more services.

With the outbreak of the pandemic, fiscal balances in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) deteriorated and public debt increased significantly. When combined with the expected slowness of economic recovery, this will put significant pressure on the sustainability of public finances for countries in the region. Given this scenario, these countries urgently need to develop and implement a fiscal strategy to reactivate their economies and foster inclusive growth, while at the same time ensuring fiscal sustainability to avoid falling into a debt trap.

There is an urgent need to reduce labor informality to encourage inclusive growth after the pandemic is over in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Labor formality boosts government revenue and targeting of transfers, increasing productivity and curtailing poverty.

For many countries in the Caribbean region, tax policy and tax administration reforms have been a long overdue task. Given the current situation worldwide, the Caribbean countries are now more than ever faced with the critical need to improve their capacity to collect and manage revenues.

The COVID crisis has generated an unprecedented fiscal response as the total resources assigned to attend the pandemic globally has reached $11 trillion, according to the World Economic Forum. Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) has not been an exception.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has been wreaking havoc throughout Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) since the first quarter of the year has had a major impact not just on people’s health but also on public finances in every country, both at national and at subnational level.

Some countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) are exploring a variety of options in their attempt to collect additional tax revenues to confront the COVID-19 emergency. With a somber forecast ahead, the region´s GDP may contract up to 6% while the fiscal deficit can climb up to 8% by the end of 2020.

Due to the global spread of COVID-19, the world is now facing an unprecedented health and economic crisis. This novel virus is fundamentally changing our daily lives and working habits. Countries are facing several health, social and economic challenges to battle the pandemic and its effects while working to ensure the business continuity of the most important parts of their operations.

Despite being one of the countries that had the most COVID-19 cases in early 2020, South Korea managed to control the spread of the outbreak in less than a month, and today it has a mortality rate of 0.2% with a cumulative number of positive cases that is flattening out. Added to this, it managed in a short time to stabilize the economy with an aid package equivalent to 31.2% of GDP.