Sec. 2. Findings
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Congress makes the following findings: The region of Latin America and the Caribbean has suffered severely from the coronavirus disease 2019 (commonly referred to as COVID–19 ), with more than 18,000,000 confirmed cases since February 2020, according to the Inter-American Development Bank. In 2020, as a result of COVID–19, gross domestic product per capita fell 8.5 percent across Latin America and the Caribbean, entirely reversing steady advancements in regional gross domestic product per capita since 2010, according to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Initial assessments by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean indicate that, throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, the COVID–19 pandemic will have— pushed an additional 45,500,000 people into poverty, increasing the total number of people living in poverty from 185,500,000 to 230,900,000, or approximately 37.3 percent of the Latin American and Caribbean population, in 2020; and caused the total number of individuals living in extreme poverty to increase by 28,500,000 from 67,700,000 to 96,200,000, or approximately 15.5 percent of the Latin American and Caribbean population, in 2020.
The Inter-American Development Bank estimated in May 2020 that 17,000,000 formal jobs would be lost as a result of the pandemic, increasing the share of jobs in informal sectors of the region’s economies to 62 percent. September 2020 findings from the International Labour Organization noted that 34,000,000 workers across 9 countries in the region lost their jobs in the first half of 2020. The pandemic also has complicated the humanitarian and development challenges countries across Latin America and the Caribbean face as hosts to more than 4,300,000 Venezuelan refugees and migrants, prompting the Inter-American Development Bank to launch a migration initiative that aims to provide $85,000,000 in grants and leverage investments of $1,100,000,000 in social protection, health, education, and employment.
The pandemic has severely disrupted education systems across Latin America and the Caribbean because of a lack of equipment and pedagogical tools required for effective remote schooling. According to data compiled by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the Inter-American Development Bank, fewer than 30 percent of low-income families impacted by decisions to halt in-person classes have access to a computer and only around 60 percent of secondary school teachers have the skills needed for virtual instruction.
Countries across Latin America and the Caribbean continue to face enduring economic challenges, including persistent inequality, high levels of tax evasion and avoidance, and elevated debt levels. The stability, sustainable development, and inclusive growth of economies in Latin America and the Caribbean is in the national interest of the United States, as the region accounts for 21.7 percent of United States trade in goods in 2019, according to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Inter-American Development Bank is the world’s oldest and largest regional development bank, and has worked continuously since 1959 to foster economic, social, and institutional development in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Inter-American Development Bank is uniquely positioned to advance post-pandemic recovery efforts and to mitigate the social and economic impacts of the pandemic. As early as March 2020, the Inter-American Development Bank announced the allotment of up to $12,000,000,000 toward immediate public health responses, efforts to revitalize social safety nets for vulnerable populations, and strategic economic productivity and employment initiatives.
The 48 borrowing and non-borrowing member countries of the Inter-American Development Bank last agreed to a ninth general capital increase as part of the Bank’s annual meeting on March 20–22, 2010. Under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act ( Public Law 116–136 ; 134 Stat. 281) (commonly referred to as the CARES Act ), enacted on March 27, 2020, Congress approved capital stock increases for the International Finance Corporation and the African Development Bank to strengthen the ability of foreign countries to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus and to the adverse economic impacts of coronavirus .
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