G20 unveils global pandemic fund to avoid repeat of Covid pandemic

Funds will be used to help countries prevent future pandemics; fundraising currently at $1.4 billion

The Group of 20 nations has raised $1.4 billion for a global pandemic health fund to help avoid a repeat of the Covid-19 outbreak that killed over 6.6 million people and crippled the world economy. 

The World Bank will manage the fund to help low- and middle-income countries prevent and address future pandemics, drawing commitments from more than 20 country donors, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation, among others. More pledges are expected.

“The amount that has so far been accumulated is just the starting figure,” said Sri Mulyani Indrawati, finance minister of Indonesia, the host nation and head of this year’s G-20 summit. “The estimated need is up to $31 billion, but this will not be the one and only instrument related to health system preparedness.” 

G-20 nations began work setting up the fund last year under the presidency of Italy as countries struggled to find enough money to fight the pandemic, with a shortfall of up to $16 billion, according to the World Health Organization. 

Three years after the onset of Covid-19, Southeast Asia’s biggest economy is pushing for equal access to the global health infrastructure by making it a priority for G-20 meetings this year. That includes getting countries to harmonize health protocols and distribute research and manufacturing capacity for medical products.

“This will provide a starting point for all of us to demonstrate to the world that G20 is able to produce concrete action that can have a global impact,” Indrawati said on Sunday during the fund’s launch in Bali. 

Biden: Do not seek conflict with China

US President Joe Biden will make clear in his bilateral meeting with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Indonesia that his country seeks no conflict, a White House official said. The two leaders are set to meet on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali this week for their first face-to-face meeting since January 2021.

Russia rejects G20 focus on security

Russia on Sunday called for the G20 to stop talking about security and focus on the world’s most pressing socio-economic problems, ahead of the summit. In a statement, Russia’s foreign ministry said it was “fundamentally important that the G20 concentrate its efforts on real, rather than imaginary, threats.

Police quiz FTX CEO; mystery outflows

Sam Bankman-Fried’s, was interviewed by Bahamian police and regulators, according to a person familiar with the matter. About $662 million in tokens mysteriously flowed out of both FTX’s international and US exchanges. 

FTX had begun moving some of its assets to offline wallets, and later expedited those moves “to mitigate damage upon observing unauthorized transactions,” according to the US platform’s general counsel Ryne Miller. 

According to investment materials seen by The Financial Times, FTX Trading International held just $900 million in liquid assets on Thursday against $9 billion of liabilities. 

Alameda Research’s chief executive and senior FTX officials knew that FTX had lent its customers’ money to Alameda to help it meet its liabilities, according to people familiar with the matter.