Sen, Satyarthi among global leaders to call for $2.5 tn COVID-19 response plan
   Date :03-Jun-2020

Amartya Sen and Kailash S
 
 
UNITED NATIONS :
 
INDIAN Nobel laureates Amartya Sen and Kailash Satyarthi and economist Kaushik Basu are among the over 225 global leaders who have jointly called for a meeting of the G20 nations to agree to a USD 2.5 trillion coronavirus global health and economic recovery plan.
 
The letter, signed by over 225 past and current leaders from around the world, calls for the G20 Summit to be convened urgently to address the health and economic crises in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and to put forth a global recovery plan. The G20 countries had on March 26 pledged USD 5 trillion to counter the impact of the pandemic amid forecasts of a deep recession.
 
The pandemic has killed over 375,000 people worldwide, ravaged the global economy and left millions jobless. Sen, Satyarthi and Basu are signatories to the letter along with other leaders from every continent, including former UK prime ministers Gordon Brown and Tony Blair, former UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon, former president of the UN General Assembly María Fernanda Espinosa, former president of Sri Lanka Chandrika Kumaratunga and Director-General of the National Council of Applied Economic Research.