José Antonio Ocampo | August 30 | Pledge Times
If someone has been practically everything in the Latin American economy in recent decades that is José Antonio Ocampo (Cali, 67 years old). Executive Secretary of ECLAC (the United Nations arm for the development of Latin America and the Caribbean), UN Deputy Secretary for Economic Affairs in the time of Kofi Annan, Minister of Finance of his country – Colombia -, professor in four of the most prestigious universities in the world (Cambridge, Yale, Oxford and, now, Columbia), in 2012 he was in the final shortlist to lead the World Bank. Heterodox confessed, answers the questions of EL PAÍS by videoconference on a hot Californian morning.
Question. At what point is the region?
Reply. Latin America has become the center of the pandemic and the economic figures that are coming out are in the ranges of the worst in the world along with Western Europe. The second trimester has been fatal.
P. What will recovery be like?
R. In most countries I see a relatively rapid reactivation. Not total and with some weaknesses, but in V. There are, however, two things that we still do not know: if there will be new relapses, although I do not think they will be of the same magnitude, and how many companies will be available. Because the volume of bankruptcies can be enormous. Governments have to approve new mechanisms to support them.
Originally published by Pledge Times. Read more here.