1. The Wealthiest Countries are Getting Vaccinated 25 Times Faster
2. S&P 500 Index Refreshed Record After Fed Chairman Powell’s Statements
3. Lagarde: ”Light Appears at the End of the Tunnel in the Eurozone.”

The Wealthiest Countries are Getting Vaccinated 25 Times Faster

The Wealthiest Countries are Getting Vaccinated 25 Times Faster

Vaccines have now been given to enough people to vaccinate about 5% of the world’s population completely, but the distribution has been uneven. The wealthiest countries receive the majority of vaccinations.

While 40% of the Covid-19 vaccines were applied in the 27 wealthiest countries, which make up 11% of the world population, countries making up the least-wealthy 11% have gotten just 1.6% of Covid-19 vaccines administered so far, according to an analysis of data collected by the Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker.

In other words, the countries with the highest income were vaccinated 25 times faster than the countries with the lowest income.

The USA, which has 4.3% of the world population, gets 24% of global vaccination, while China, which has 18% of the world population, has a share of 20% in global vaccination.

Looking at vaccine deals, rich countries have already signed billions of doses of vaccine supply agreements that could vaccinate their populations several times.

While the USA aims to vaccinate 75% of the population in the next three months, almost half of the countries have not vaccinated even 1% of its population. Although the calculations do not include the poorest 40 countries that do not have public vaccination data, these countries host 8% of the world’s population.

If there were an equal vaccine distribution mechanism worldwide, the USA’s current vaccination figures would be six times more than it deserves. The U.K. would have used up seven times its population-weighted allotment (outpacing the E.U.’s double-share). Topping the list are the UAE and Israel, with nine and 12 times their population-based share, respectively.

The world’s least wealthy continent, Africa, is also the least vaccinated. Of its 54 countries, only three have inoculated more than 1% of their populations. More than 20 countries aren’t even on the board yet.

S&P 500 Index Refreshed Record After Fed Chairman Powell’s Statements

S&P 500 Index Refreshed Record After Fed Chairman Powell’s Statements

Powell attended a video conference event on the global economy as part of the Spring Meetings organized by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

Pointing out that the significant financial support provided and the rapidly advancing vaccination allowed the economy to return to normal in a very short time, Powell said that the monetary policy is still supportive. Powell stated that the recovery is incomplete and unstable; there will be a risk of mutation until everyone in the world is vaccinated and economic activity cannot be continued safely.

Reiterating that asset purchases will continue at the current pace until a significant progress is achieved in the Fed’s targets, Powell noted that at this point, they talked about a real progress and did not look at the forecasts.

Powell called on people to vaccinate and continue social distancing measures, noting that global vaccination poses a risk to progress.

“We don’t want to have another epidemic. Even if it causes less economic damage and kills fewer people, it will slow the recovery,” Fed Chairman Powell said.

Underlining that the support needed will be provided to the economy until the recovery is complete, Powell said, “It is also useful to remind, we will not go back to the same economy, this will be a different economy.”

Powell, who also made evaluations about inflation, stated that there is a difference between price increase and permanent inflation. The Fed Chairman stated that they have the tools to intervene in the event of rising inflation, but they do not consider this possibility.

“In the most likely case, higher prices will be seen temporarily during this period, but not permanent inflation,” Fed Chairman Powell said.

Following the messages given by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, the U.S. indices hit new record levels on Thursday. At the same time, the upward movement continued in the first futures on the new trading day. It was observed that Nasdaq futures diverged positively.

Wall Street indexes rose after Powell said the Fed had the means to curb any inflationary pressures and that these pressures were expected to be temporary. The yield on 10-year bonds declined as the S&P 500 moved towards another record.

The New York stock market ended the day with a rise. At the closing, the Dow Jones index increased by 0.17% to 33,503.57 points.

The S&P 500 index increased by 0.45% to 4,098.13 points, while the Nasdaq index rose to 13,829.31 points with 1.03% gain.

Lagarde: ”Light Appears at the End of the Tunnel in the Eurozone.”

Lagarde: ”Light Appears at the End of the Tunnel in the Eurozone.”

European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde stated that the Covid-19 outbreak and the measures against it will continue to negatively affect the economic activities in the Eurozone in the short term and that the risks surrounding the growth outlook in the region have become more balanced and economic activities will recover with the removal of epidemic measures.

Lagarde’s speech at the 43rd International Monetary and Finance Committee (IMFC) Meeting held within the scope of the IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings was published on the ECB’s website.

Explaining that the Covid-19 pandemic and the measures to prevent its spread will continue to negatively affect the economic activity of the Euro Area in the short term, Lagarde said, “In general, the risks related to the economic growth outlook of the Euro Area have become more balanced, but the downside risks associated with the epidemic are in the near term continues.”

Lagarde, predicting that the Eurozone economy will slowly recover from the epidemic, cited the lifting of measures as soon as a wider immunity to the virus was achieved in the population, monetary policies, ongoing financial support, and an increase in foreign demand.

Lagarde stated that global hopes have increased thanks to the progress made in vaccination campaigns and strong policy support provided to economies since October 2020 and warned, “However, this bright outlook is subject to considerable uncertainty due to the course of the epidemic and the spread of vaccines.”

The President of the ECB pointed out that favorable financing conditions could be maintained and stated that it might not be necessary to use all of the 1.85 trillion euro asset purchase envisaged under the Pandemic Emergency Asset Purchase Program (PEPP) if favorable financing conditions can be maintained.

Stating that the ECB reserves the right to increase the amount of PEPP if market conditions require it, Lagarde said, “PEPP can be readjusted if necessary to maintain favorable financing conditions.”

Concerning inflation, which remained low for a long time, Lagarde emphasized that inflation increased sharply at the beginning of this year compared to the end of 2020 and noted that it is likely to grow even more in the coming months.

Referring to the digital euro issue, ECB President Christine Lagarde said, “In the ECB, work is underway on the digital euro as a complement to cash to bring our currency into the digital age.”