A4 O THEGLOBEANDMAIL| FRIDAY,MARCH27,
Canada and other G20 countries
are pledging US$5-trillion in eco-
nomic stimulus measures to fight
the COVID-19 crisis, along with a
focus on supporting vulnerable
countries that might lack the
health-care systems and re-
sources to keep their populations
safe.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau,
who joined a “virtual summit” of
Group of 20 leaders via video con-
ferencing Thursday, said the alli-
ance is “particularly well suited”
for a global response to the coro-
navirus outbreak.
He said the group’s leaders dis-
cussed the need to support the
global economy, including devel-
oping countries, and the impor-
tance of investing in organiza-
tions such as the United Nations,
the World Health Organization
and the World Bank in the fight
against the spread of COVID-19.
“We know that support for vul-
nerable countries who are strug-
gling with the ability to combat
this virus is not just about being
altruistic, it’s about protecting
Canadians as well,” Mr. Trudeau
said during his daily news confer-
ence outside his residence in Ot-
tawa.
“This virus will possibly face
resurgences, even once we’ve
handled it in Canada and many
countries. Our ability to mini-
mize those resurgences will be
linked to our ability to help and
work with countries in more dire
situations.”
In their statement after the
summit, the G20 leaders said they
are injecting more than US$5-tril-
lion into the global economy, “as
part of targeted fiscal policy, eco-
nomic measures and to guaran-
tee schemes to counteract the so-
cial, economic and financial im-
pacts of the pandemic.”
Mr. Trudeau said the group al-
so discussed the need to support
Africa specifically, although he
did not provide any details.
South African President Cyril
Ramaphosa said Mr. Trudeau
backed a proposal at the G20 for
economic stimulus and debt re-
lief to help African countries fight
the pandemic. Canada, Germany,
France, Russia and others are
supporting the African request
for help, Mr. Ramaphosa told re-
porters in Pretoria after the sum-
mit.
“We put Africa’s case forward
very strongly,” said Mr. Ramapho-
sa, whose country is the only Afri-
can full member of the G20. “We
will need a lot of support, partic-
ularly because our health sys-
tems in the continent are chal-
lenged. A number of countries in
the world are very sympathetic to
Africa’s situation.”
He appealed to the G20, on be-
half of the continent’s leaders, to
ensure that therisingwave of
lockdowns and travel restrictions
do not prevent medical supplies
from reaching Africa, where there
are shortages of ventilators and
other equipment to care for an
anticipated surge of COVID-19 pa-
tients.
“They should not close Africa
off,” Mr. Ramaphosa said.
In their statement, the G
leaders said they were “gravely
concerned” with the serious risks
to all countries, “particularly de-
veloping and least-developed
countries, and notably in Africa
and small island states, where
health systems and economies
may be less able to cope with the
challenge, as well as the particu-
lar risk faced by refugees and dis-
placed persons.”
The bloc promised to address
“debt vulnerabilities,” owing to
the pandemic in low-income
countries.
It also promised humanitarian
financing and pledged to expand
manufacturing capacity “to meet
the increasing needs for medical
supplies and ensure that these
are made widely available, at an
affordable price, on an equitable
basis, where they are most need-
ed and as quickly as possible.”
Canada has pledged $50-mil-
lion to help vulnerable countries
prepare for and respond to CO-
VID-19, as part of thegovern-
ment’s greater coronavirus re-
sponse package.
Last week, Ottawa rolled out
some of that foreign aid, an-
nouncing $8-million for human-
itarian organizations to help de-
veloping countries affected by
the coronavirus improve access
to water, sanitation, hygiene and
emergency health care, among
other support.
Canada is also actively review-
ing the United Nations’ appeal for
US$2-billion to help poor coun-
tries combat COVID-19 and is ex-
pected to contribute, a senior
government official said Thurs-
day. The Globe and Mail is not
identifying the official because
they were not authorized to
speak publicly on the matter.
On Wednesday, UN Secretary-
General Antonio Guterres called
for more resources to prevent the
pandemic from reaching “apoc-alyptic proportions.”
Many leaders in the develop-
ing world had been hoping the
G20 would promise a package of
economic and humanitarian sup-
port for low-income countries,
where the pandemic has trig-
gered a waveof lockdowns and
business shutdowns.
The World Bank and the Inter-
national Monetary Fund have al-
ready called on the G20 to sup-
port a debt-relief plan that asks
bilateral creditors to suspend
debt repayments from low-in-
come countries. This would help
with “immediate liquidity needs
to tackle challenges posed by the
coronavirus outbreak,” they said
in a statement this week.
The UN’s US$2-billion appeal,
meanwhile, is to help the world’s
poorest and most war-torn coun-
tries, which are highly vulnerable
to the pandemic. It aims to pro-
vide medical equipment and lab-
oratory testing supplies, along
with water and sanitation efforts
in refugee camps.
The funding could “save many
lives,” Mr. Guterres said in mak-
ing the appeal.
The plan also involves opening
new “humanitarian corridors” to
allow supplies to be airlifted into
countries that have shut down in-
ternational flights.
Many health leaders in Africa
and the Middle East have warned
that the travel bans and lock-
downs are having a damaging ef-
fect on humanitarian aid, espe-
cially for refugees and others who
need emergency care.
The travel restrictions “are in-
advertently preventing life-sav-
ing aid from reaching displaced
and refugee communities,” the
Norwegian Refugee Council said
this week.
“Humanitarian organizations
have already suspended relief
programs in some countries due
to government restrictions, caus-
ing uncertainty and hardship for
families.”
The refugee council, a leading
humanitarian agency, said it is
currently unable to reach thou-
sands of people – as many as
300,000 in the Middle East alone- because of the restrictions.
“If supermarkets and pharma-
cies can remain operational dur-
ing this crisis, then so should the
delivery of humanitarian aid,”
saida statement by Jan Egeland,
the council’s secretary-general.
In his speech at the G
summit Thursday, Chinese Presi-
dent Xi Jinping promised that his
country would “increase its sup-
ply of active pharmaceutical in-
gredients, daily necessities, and
anti-epidemic and other supplies
to the international market.”
Global industrial supply chains
must be kept “stable,” he said.
AmuralinCapeTown,SouthAfrica,onThursdaypromotessocialdistancing.SouthAfricanPresidentCyril
RamaphosahasappealedtotheGroupof20toensurelockdownsandtravelrestrictionsdon’tprevent
medicalsuppliesfromreachingAfrica,whichfacesshortagesofkeyequipment.MIKEHUTCHINGS/REUTERS
Canadajoinsmassive
globalstimulusfund
PrimeMinistersays
US$5-trillionresponse
fromG20willhelp
developingcountries
andCanadiansin
fightagainstoutbreak
GEOFFREYYORKJOHANNESBURG
MICHELLECARBERTOTTAWA
| NEWSI
f you read the communiqué issued Thursday by G
leaders, you might be heartened to find they’re talking
about a lot of the key things that have to be co-ordinat-
ed around the planet.
But then you might notice what else is going on in the
world.
U.S. President Donald Trump was thinking about sending
troops to the Canadian border, although he reportedly
dropped the idea last night. Supply chains of essential
goods and medical supplies are being disrupted. The Group
of 20 summit’s nominal host, Saudi Arabia, has started an
oil-price war that’s exacerbating economic chaos.
World leaders haven’t gotten their heads around interna-
tional co-ordination for this coronavirus crisis. In particular,
they haven’t grasped what’s different this time around.
The G20 was convened for the first time during the fi-
nancial crisis of 2008, by then-U.S. president George W.
Bush, and responded in a reasonably united fashion. The
leaders agreed to play their part in a major global economic
stimulus package and returned home to borrow and spend
in a bid to set the global economy rolling again.
The G20 is doing a lot of that again. The U.S. Congress
passed a US$2-trillion relief bill. Australia unveiled a pack-
age worth roughly 9 per cent of its annual GDP. In all, G
leaders said they were commit-
ting $5-trillion.
Even if this economic crisis
isn’t the same as the previous
one, G20 leaders have accepted
the notion that in an emergency,
it’s best for every country to
pump money into its economy.
Do more for everyone by doing
more for your own.
And, it must be said, several
countries are putting sums into
some obvious elements of the common good – Canada and
Britain, among others, have announced sizable sums for
vaccine research. It’s harder for world leaders to get behind
co-operation when the payoff to them is less obvious.
There’s an international version of what’s happening at
your supermarket: shortages of items that are in hot de-
mand or irrationally hoarded. Countries that expected to
import items such as masks now find that they can’t get
them. Some companies and countries have cut off exports
of key items. That screams for co-ordinated expansion of
production and measures to keep supply chains moving.
The leaders’ communiqué promised vaguely that they’ll
work on it, but so far, there are bidding wars and a prolifer-
ation of national barriers.
It’s not surprising that in these times it’s hard to muster
foreign aid, such as the $2-billion package the United Na-
tions asked the G20 to pledge for Africa. But in this case, it’s
worth noting experts are now concerned that the spread of
coronavirus might wane this summer in the Northern
Hemisphere, but take off in the Southern Hemisphere, and
then return north in the fall.
And then, the general sense that we’re all in this crisis
together is contradicted by beggar-thy-neighbour policies,
blame-thy-neighbour rhetoric and bizarre national para-
noia. The Group of Seven foreign ministers couldn’t agree
on a joint statement because the United States petulantly
insisted on calling COVID-19 the Wuhan virus. And the U.S.
administration apparently chose this moment to consider
sending troops to the Canadian border to help interdict
people crossing between official border points.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said Canada
strongly opposed the idea – though she declined to say
exactly what the U.S. proposed to do. At any rate, countries
tend to object when neighbours move troops to their bor-
der, and it’s hard to fathom why the U.S. would have chosen
this crisis as the time to do it. There isn’t a sudden flood of
people leaving Canada to sneak into New York.
If you’re inclined to write that off as just Donald Trump,
well, the G20’s inability to fulfill its own pledge to do “what-
ever it takes” to deal with the coronavirus and its economic
impacts sure didn’t match the leaders’ teleconference talks.
The meeting host was Saudi Arabia, which recklessly
launched an oil-price war with Russia just as coronavirus
was clobbering the global economy. That has hurt the U.S.,
Canada and others, and roiled markets. But a Canadian
source briefed on the meeting said there wasn’t much talk
about that.WhattheG20isgetting
right–andwrong–
duringthepandemic
CAMPBELL
CLARKOPINIONG20leaders
haveacceptedthe
notionthatinan
emergency,it’sbest
foreverycountry
topumpmoney
intoitseconomy.OTTAWABEIJINGChina has ordered airlines to sharply cut the num-
ber of flights in and out of the country out of concern that
travellers from overseas could reignite the coronavirus
outbreak that paralyzed the country for two months.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said
on Thursday it had directed Chinese airlines to maintain
only one route to any country and limit the number of
flights to one a week, effective March 29.
The authority also ordered foreign airlines to reduce
their international routes to China to one a week and
operate only one route into the country.
Around 80 per cent of international flights were already
being cancelled prior to the announcement, but Chinese
airlines had been asked not to cut their international
routes until Thursday’s order by the CAAC.
China also will temporarily suspend the entry of foreign-
ers with valid Chinese visas and residence permits starting
on March 28, the Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.
The moves, in conjunction with severe quarantine rules
now being imposed on people arriving in the country, are
set to slow the flow of inbound travellers to a trickle.
Beijing is keen to prevent a resurgence of the coro-
navirus epidemic that emerged in Wuhan in late 2019, and
has killed nearly 3,300 Chinese citizens to date and more
than 21,000 people globally.
Severe curbs on travel and transport brought the epi-
demic under control in China, but at a heavy price, with
some analysts expecting an outright contraction for the
country’s economy in the first quarter. Beijing is exhorting
industries to reopen, but the virus, which has now spread
around the globe, continues to threaten China’s economy
and the health of its people.
Mainland China has not seen any new locally transmit-
ted coronavirus cases in six of the past eight days, shifting
the focus to preventing infected people arriving from over-
seas who could trigger a fresh outbreak in the country.
REUTERSCHINADEMANDSAIRLINESFURTHERREDUCE
FLIGHTSTOCURBCORONAVIRUSRISKNEWDELHISome of India’s le-
gions of poor and others sudden-
ly thrown out of work by a cou-
trywide stay-at-home order
began receiving aid on Thursday,
as both public and private
groups worked to blunt the
impact of efforts to curb the
coronavirus pandemic.
India’s finance ministry an-
nounced a 1.7-trillion-rupee
($31.3-billion) economic stimu-
lus package that will include
delivering grains and lentil ra-
tions for three months to 800
million people, some 60 per cent
of the world’s second-most
populous country.
In the meantime, police in one
state were giving rations of rice
to shanty dwellers, while another
state’sgovernment deposited
cash into the bank accounts of
newly unemployed workers. Aid
groups worked to greatly expand
the number of meals they could
hand out. The unprecedented
order, keeping India’s 1.3 billion
people at home for all but essen-
tial trips to places such as mar-
kets or pharmacies, is meant to
keep the virus from surging
above the 593 active cases and 13
deaths currently recorded and
overwhelming an already
strained health-care system.
The measures that went into
effect Wednesday – the largest oftheir kind in the world – risk
heaping further hardship on the
quarter of the population who
live below the poverty line, and
the 1.8 million who are homeless.
Rickshaw drivers, itinerant
produce peddlers, maids, day
labourers and other informal
workers form the backbone of
the Indian economy, comprising
around 85 per cent of all employ-
ment, according to official data.
Many buy food with the money
they make each day and have no
savings to fall back on.
Untold numbers are now out
of work and many families have
been left struggling to eat.
ASSOCIATEDPRESSINDIA’SUNEMPLOYED,POORRECEIVEAIDAMIDLOCKDOWN