Eva Gutiérrez, an expert in the financial sector for Latin America and the Caribbean at the World Bank for more than a decade, advisor to several governments and with experience at the IMF, virtually visited The Open Faculty University Center, headquarters of the Faculty of Tourism of the University of Murcia, to provide relevant data on the global economy, pandemic and climate change to International Relations students and the general public in the economic and legal fields. The speaker explained the operation of the World Bank, its support to developing countries and its role on the social impact in world crises like the one we are currently experiencing, which “has made us break records in loans.”
The expert highlighted the harsh consequences of Covid for the population in vulnerable areas of the planet, since, as she pointed out, the agency is issuing loans to many countries for the purchase of vaccines, as well as supporting pharmaceutical companies for the production of vaccines. When asked by the public about comparing this crisis to previous ones, he replied that “we are not aware that there are thousands of people who live on less than $ 1.9 a day.” According to Eva Gutiérrez, “we are experiencing the biggest economic recession after World War II.” Along these lines, he reported that even society and many governments have not learned that we cannot “live above our means, accumulating debt.”
That is why, since before the pandemic, the World Bank has begun to focus its attention on strategic lines that go beyond money, such as human capital and the use of the digital economy.
The specialist in the financial sector of this group, Eva Gutiérrez, spoke with the students of The Open Faculty of the UMU
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The lines of work that are being carried out in areas such as equality, gender violence, education or climate change have also been valued. Regarding this last issue, he said that “we estimate that between 70 and 132 million people will go into poverty due to the consequences of climate change such as floods, etc.”, a fact that caused astonishment among the attendees. For this reason, in his opinion, the value of the ideas contributed by the more than 12,000 workers that make up the World Bank’s workforce is greater than the value of the loans, which sometimes indicates: «It is practically free money, since they are with terms of more than forty years and zero interest ».
Through advisory work, they address the mission of influencing governments and societies through multidisciplinary initiatives.
Thanks to these talks by experts, students and the general public who participate in the free master seminars broadcast openly by videoconference at The Open Faculty University Center, have the opportunity to discover and interpret the complex international reality of «a very complex and increasingly globalized ”.
The center will upload the complete recording of this seminar to the YouTube channel of The Open Faculty Center in the next few days.
With this weekly initiative of the until recently known School of Tourism, and recently called The Open Faculty – Faculty of Tourism and Relations
The International University of Murcia aims to encourage society to generate the necessary changes to create a better world together.
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