Unic Press UK: The World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have expressed concern over what they described as supply disruptions arising from a growing use of export restrictions and other actions that limit trade on key medical supplies/food.
In a statement Friday, both bodies said:
“Taken collectively, export restrictions can be dangerously counterproductive. What makes sense in an isolated emergency can be severely damaging in a global crisis. Such measures disrupt supply chains, depress production, and misdirect scarce, critical products and workers away from where they are most needed. Other governments counter with their own restrictions. The result is to prolong and exacerbate the health and economic crisis—with the most serious effects likely on the poorer and more vulnerable countries. To ramp up the production of medical supplies, it is essential to build on existing cross-border production and distribution networks.”
Also of a serious concern is a decline in the supply of trade finance, which remains very crucial towards ensuring that imports of food and essential medical equipment do reach the economies where they are most needed.
