On April 27, 2020, According to the report ‘APEC in the Epicentre of COVID-19’ released by the APEC Secretariat, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) region’s growth is expected to decrease by 2.7% in 2020 due to the impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
The contraction, which is the most significant fall since 2009 global recession, compares with a 3.6 % growth in 2019.
Key Points:
i.Due to the economic fallout, the output loss has been estimated at $ 2.1 trillion.
ii.However, the Secretariat expects an economic revival at 6.3 % in 2021 based on effectiveness of containment mechanisms & exceptional fiscal measures for better economy. This forecast will be higher than the projected global economic growth of 5.8 %.
iii.Other major issues:
- Apart from this, unemployment rate in APEC region is estimated to increase to 5.4 % in 2020 as compared to 3.8 % in 2019, means an additional 23.5 million workers in the region being unemployed in 2020.
- Also the Healthcare systems are struggling with acute shortages of medical supplies & equipment along with inadequate numbers of hospital beds and isolation units. As per APEC Policy Support Unit, the APEC region has an average of 4.1 hospital beds, 1.9 physicians, and 3.9 nurses or midwives per 1,000 people.
iv.In view of COVID-19, the 2020 APEC economic forum and leaders’ summit host Malaysia has delayed meetings. It will likely to held in November 2020.
About Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC):
Headquarters– Queenstown, Singapore
Executive Director– Dr Rebecca Fatima Sta Maria
Membership– 21 economies (Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam).
