Session IV: Situational Briefing & Fiscal Challenges During an Economic Crisis

Overview

Dr. Carissa Etienne, Regional Director for the Americas of the World Health Organization and Director of the Pan American Health Organization, provided a situational briefing on the state of COVID-19 in Latin America and Africa, and discussed the health and economic impacts of COVID-19. Alberto Cavallo, the Edgerley Family Associate Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, facilitated a discussion on the fiscal challenges that city governments in Latin American and African countries are likely to face both during and after the pandemic, including the macroeconomic outlook and how it will impact expenditures, tax revenues, the issuance of debt, and the risk of inflation. Rawi Abdelal, Harvard Business School Professor and faculty co-chair of the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, and Jennifer Musisi, the former executive director of Kampala, Uganda, and City Leader in Residence at the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, moderated the session.