Leaders of industrialized countries pledged in Washington on Wednesday to tackle logistics problems caused by the pandemic, which are driving up prices and slowing global growth.
Global supply chain bottlenecks are a central theme in the annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank, as well as in the appointments of the finance ministers of the Group of Twenty advanced economies (G20) and the smaller Group. of the Seven (G7).
Restrictions due to the pandemic altered the production and distribution of goods, while suppliers are unable to meet the sudden increase in demand when activity is reactivated.
These disruptions, which some authorities fear will be long-lasting, led the International Monetary Fund to lower the growth forecasts of several countries, including the United States, China, Germany and the United Kingdom.
G7 officials agreed to work together to monitor difficulties.
"Supply chain issues are felt globally, and finance leaders around the world must collaborate to address our shared challenges."said UK Finance Minister Rishi Sunak, who chaired the gathering of the world’s richest nations.
The World Bank estimates that 8.5% of container shipping worldwide is stagnant in or around ports, double the number in January.
– "Inflationary pressures" –
The director of Italy’s central bank, Ignazio Visco, agreed with the IMF and others who have said that inflationary pressures are mainly due to transitory factors such as increased demand.
But he recognized that "these can take months to disappear".
The G20 central bank presidents said they are studying the issue to see if there are "more structural factors at play" at the peak of inflation higher than expected and "if there is any component that begins to be transitory but could become permanent"Visco told reporters.
The challenge is to support the recovery with favorable financial conditions while avoiding a permanent increase in inflation.
The G20 statement said central banks "will act as needed" to address price stability "while analyzing inflationary pressures where they are transitory".
But World Bank President David Malpass warned that some price spikes "they will not be transitory".
"It will take time and the cooperation of policy makers around the world to figure it out.", said.
– The vaccination factor –
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva warned that the delay in vaccination to contain the pandemic in developing countries also weighs.
About 58% of the population in advanced economies is already fully immunized, compared to 36% in emerging economies and less than 5% in poor countries, according to the IMF.
"We should be concerned about this divergence"he told reporters, "because as it expands, this risk of disruptions in global supply chains will be greater".
What is feared is that rising prices will create a vicious cycle that forces advanced economies to raise interest rates to contain inflation, raising borrowing costs for developing nations and further delaying their development. Recovery.
Malpass lamented the situation in developing nations that are already facing an outlook "somber" and a "tragic development setback" caused by the pandemic that has driven 100 million people into extreme poverty and is causing debt problems in many countries.
– "Never more" –
In the United States, the world’s leading economy, the disruption is such that President Joe Biden made the port of Los Angeles, the destination for 40% of the containers that arrive in the country, and the American port union work more nights and weekends to reduce queues that slow the delivery of many products.
Other companies such as Walmart, FedEx and UPS also agreed to extended hours to speed up the movement of products. "from the ships to the shelves".
But Biden said policies must be designed to reduce reliance on single sources and boost domestic production to avoid these supply shocks.
"Never again should our country and our economy be unable to manufacture the crucial products we need because we do not have access to the materials we need."Biden said.
"We will never have to depend too much on one company or one country again", he claimed.
The same concept was repeated by French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, who told reporters on the sidelines of the meetings: "The answer is in one word: independence".
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