People wearing protective masks are walking the main shopping street in Munich, Germany, during the April 30, 2020 coronavirus crisis.
Alexander Hassenstein / Getty Images
LONDON – Some countries’ “inward-looking national agenda” in response to the coronavirus pandemic threatens global resilience in the wake of the crisis, a panelist behind the World Economic Forum’s 2021 global risk report suggested.
Carolina Klint, leader in continental risk management at Marsh & McLennan, told CNBC’s Geoff Cutmore on Monday that there are lessons to be learned in collaborating to develop coronavirus vaccines at an “unprecedented rate.”
However, she added that some countries’ “inward-looking national agenda” is “a matter of concern”.
Her comments come as some richer countries are criticized by activists for “accumulating” more doses of coronavirus vaccines than they need, while lower-income countries are struggling to get enough photos to immunize themselves. populations. An Amnesty International report in December raised concerns about “vaccine nationalism”, naming the UK, the US, the EU, Japan, Canada and Australia as the largest buyers of advanced vaccine doses.
On Tuesday, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, co-chair of the World Health Organization’s independent pandemic review group, expressed disappointment that “vaccine launches are currently benefiting rich countries.”
Zombie companies; asset bubbles
Klint said the packages of “substantial” substances that governments injected into their economies in response to the immediate pandemic also correlated with “the continuing trend of self-sufficiency that has been accelerated by Covid-19.”
She added that there is a risk of “business zombification” if incentive packages are not “properly structured”.
“So it’s really a perfect storm brewing here,” she said.
So-called zombie companies are considered delayed businesses that need debt to operate or earn just enough to survive and maintain their debt. This has been a concern in the wake of the pandemic, with increased support for businesses from governments and central banks.
Similarly, Klint warned of asset bubbles – when an investment rises rapidly in price, driven by market momentum, rather than fundamentals – as another potential risk.
Surprisingly, infectious diseases were considered to be the biggest impact threat in the next decade, in the WEF’s annual risk report. By comparison, in January 2019 the spread of infectious diseases was ranked as the tenth highest risk in terms of potential impact in the next 10 years.
In its first global risk report in 2006, the WEF highlighted the threat of an influenza pandemic as one of the four key risks. He warned that a “lethal flu, its spread facilitated by global travel patterns and incessant with insufficient warning mechanisms, would pose an acute threat”.
The annual report is based on the WEF’s Global Risk Survey, completed by more than 650 members of the forum’s “various leadership communities”.
In this year’s risk report, infectious diseases, along with life-threatening crises, were also named as the world’s main short-term threats, according to 60% of survey respondents.
Klint added that “the Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way we think about risk, increased awareness that disasters that could cause death and mass destruction can actually happen.”
Extreme weather, the failure of climate action and man-made damage were considered by WEF respondents to be the most likely risks in the next decade. This continued the trend of last year’s report, in which all five global long-term risks related to environmental issues.
Along with the employment and livelihoods crisis, digital inequality and youth disillusionment have been listed as the world’s most imminent threats, with the report focusing on the widespread societal gaps caused by the pandemic.