Month: April 2021

Categories
Entertainment

Benita Raphan, Maker of Lyrical Quick Movies, Is Useless at 58

Benita Raphan, Maker of Lyrical Short Films, Is Dead at 58

She grew up on the Upper West Side and graduated from City-as-School, an alternative public high school where students design their own curricula based on experiential learning, mostly through internships. (Jean-Michel Basquiat was an alumnus, as was Adam Horovitz of the Beastie Boys.) Ms. Raphan was an intern with Albert Watson, the fashion photographer.

Her mother often described Ms. Raphan as an “irregular verb”.

“She saw things through a different lens,” she said. “Benita could take something ordinary and find beauty in it. She was the real deal. No artifice about them. The heart was right out there. “

Ms. Raphan earned a bachelor’s degree in media arts from the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan – where she has also taught for the past 15 years – and an MFA from the Royal College of Art, London. She spent 10 years in Paris working as a graphic designer for fashion companies such as Marithé & François Girbaud before returning to New York in the mid-1990s.

Her mother and sister Melissa Raphan survive.

“While the rest of us stole from our instructors and other design greats,” said Gail Anderson, a creative director and former classmate of Ms. Raphan’s, “Benita was on her own journey, working with delicate typography and haunting imagery, and creating collages and photo illustrations that were unique to Benita. “

Ms. Raphan was, in her own opinion, more of a collage artist than a filmmaker. “Your films are really collages of ideas,” said Kane Platt, a film editor who worked on many of her projects. “You had a lot of freedom working with her, and when you had ideas that were weird and crazy, she’d say, ‘Go, go, go!'”

Categories
Business

N.R.A. Chief Takes the Stand, With Cracks in His Armor

N.R.A. Chief Takes the Stand, With Cracks in His Armor

Mr LaPierre is seeking bankruptcy to help reintegrate the NRA into the more gun-friendly state of Texas and has already repaid about $ 300,000 to the NRA when he tried to keep his job. When asked if he was disciplined for having spent the money incorrectly, he said, “Yes, I was disciplined, I paid it back.” In the NRA, discipline sometimes means paying back money after you get caught.

Whether his bankruptcy game will work remains to be seen. To convince Judge Hale that the NRA’s petition should be denied during a trial that began last week, attorneys for Attorney General Letitia James and a major creditor – the NRA’s former advertising firm, Ackerman McQueen – presented evidence to Mr LaPierre had maliciously applied for bankruptcy protection.

Proving that a filing was made in bad faith can be tricky as it means there is intent to be shown. However, Monica Connell, an assistant attorney general, argued that Mr. LaPierre had no authority to bankrupt the NRA himself and had used a “twisted” ploy to get the board of directors to inadvertently grant the necessary approval.

Instead of submitting a bankruptcy order to the board, Mr. LaPierre’s team asked the board to vote on a new employment contract for him. It looked like reform as it reduced its golden parachute.

However, the contract contained an unobtrusive provision that gave Mr. LaPierre “without limitation” the authority “to reorganize or reorganize the affairs of the association for the purpose of minimizing costs, complying with legal requirements or otherwise”.

The new contract was first presented to a committee of the NRA board on January 7th in a closed session. There weren’t enough copies and no one could leave with one. NRA officials said board members had ample time to review.

By this point, LaPierre’s principal outside attorney, the law firm William A. Brewer III, had spent months planning bankruptcy and amassing millions of dollars in legal fees. But nobody told the board about it. After the committee emerged from its closed meeting, the board approved the contract with little inkling that it had put bankruptcy authority over to Mr LaPierre.

Categories
Politics

Biden to carry infrastructure plan assembly with bipartisan members of Congress

Biden to hold infrastructure plan meeting with bipartisan members of Congress

President Joe Biden will meet with U.S. Senators to discuss infrastructure improvements in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC on February 11, 2021.

Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images

President Joe Biden will meet with bipartisan Congressmen on Monday to sell his infrastructure plan for more than $ 2 trillion, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday.

Congress will return to Washington next week for the first time since Biden unveiled his proposal to fund roads, bridges, airports, broadband, electric vehicles, housing and vocational training while raising the corporate tax rate to 28%. The president faces a problem getting the bill through the House and Senate, where Democrats have a narrow majority and Republicans are skeptical of a huge package of spending.

Biden on Monday will “emphasize the need for a bold, one-time investment in America to get millions of people to work,” Psaki said. She added that the administration expects to publish a list of attendees on Monday.

Since unveiling his plan, Biden has said he would listen to “any Republican who wants to achieve this.” The meeting will begin the president’s efforts to hear the GOP – although differences between the parties’ visions for an infrastructure bill may prevent them from working together.

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Biden signaled that if Republicans refuse to respond to what he believed to be current needs, he could try to pass laws with only Democratic votes through a special budget process. Not only has the GOP called for a fraction of the president’s desired price to be spent on infrastructure, but it has argued that a corporate tax hike would put a strain on the economy. Biden’s plan is to raise the tax rate to 28% after Republicans cut it from 35% to 21% under their 2017 tax bill.

Democratic Senator Joe Manchin from West Virginia has urged Biden, among others, to negotiate a deal with Republicans. The Senator signaled this week that he could speak out against the repeated use of budget voting to pass bills without GOP votes.

Manchin, whose vote needs Democrats to get a Senate bill, has also said he prefers a corporate tax rate of 25% versus 28%. Biden said this week that he is “ready to negotiate the tax rate”.

The infrastructure plan is Biden’s second major legislative push since he took office in January. The Democrats passed a $ 1.9 trillion bailout package to coronavirus last month.

House spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Said Thursday she hoped her chamber could pass an infrastructure bill as early as July.

The Democrats then want to move to separate legislation dealing with paid vacation, education and health care.

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Categories
Health

Mother and father, Cease Speaking In regards to the ‘Misplaced Yr’

Parents, Stop Talking About the ‘Lost Year’

“They had a sense of resilience and ‘grit’, even prepandemic which I think served them well,” she said. “I see an ability to pan.”

In Dr. Luther’s research actually regressed reports of loneliness for seventh and eighth grade students between spring 2020 and spring 2021 – a reflection of how she suspects how alienating and lonely middle school is for many of them in “normal” times. (“The loners, the introverts, the kids who weren’t popular – they’re fine, thank you,” she said.)

Other new data suggests that the youngest teens may have got through the pandemic year with slightly less wear and tear than older teens. In the fall of 2020, a research team led by psychologist Angela L. Duckworth of the University of Pennsylvania surveyed more than 6,500 high school students in a large, demographically diverse school district where families could choose whether their children would attend remotely or in school Person.

They found that students who attended school from a distance, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status, exhibited significantly lower social, emotional, and academic wellbeing – with the exception of ninth graders, whose level remained roughly the same. (And who for most of the 20th century were considered to be in the same developmental category as seventh and eighth grade students, teaching in middle schools.)

Overall, according to Dr. Steinberg, the youth who fared best during the pandemic were more likely to be the ones who were able to keep in touch with their friends. And for many middle school students, that means having parents willing to relax their usual rules on social media and screen time.

“Social media mitigates some of the effects of isolation,” he said.

This message, often echoed by experts and educators, should provide some relief to the many parents who feel guilty about the screen time they have given their children over the past year.

Rabiah Harris, a Washington public middle school science teacher, holds a PhD in education that, as the mother of a nearly 12-year-old, allows her to take a philosophical viewpoint.

Categories
Business

Biden praises South Korean battery maker deal as win for U.S. electrical car push

Biden praises South Korean battery maker deal as win for U.S. electric vehicle push

President Joe Biden delivering an American employment plan address in the South Court Auditorium in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on April 7, 2021.

Demetrius Freeman | The Washington Post | Getty Images

President Joe Biden on Sunday declared the deal between two Korean battery manufacturers a victory for US efforts to build a strong electric vehicle supply chain to create clean energy jobs and mitigate climate change.

The settlement of a trade secret dispute between LG Energy Solution and SK Innovation Co. enables two Georgia plants to advance their plans to manufacture lithium-ion batteries for Ford and Volkswagen.

The companies agreed to cease litigation in the US and South Korea and not pursue any further lawsuits for a decade. SK Innovation is also paying LG Energy Solution $ 1.8 billion in cash and royalties.

The deal came ahead of the Biden government deadline on Sunday evening to reverse a decision by the U.S. International Trade Commission unless the battery makers reached an agreement.

The deal is a huge win for the Biden administration, which recently unveiled a comprehensive infrastructure plan that includes $ 174 billion in spending to boost the electric vehicle market and move away from gas-powered cars.

“We need a strong, diversified and resilient supply chain for electric vehicle batteries in the US so that we can meet the growing global demand for these vehicles and components – create well-paying jobs here at home and lay the foundations for the jobs of tomorrow.” “Said Biden in a statement.

The president’s proposal calls for the installation of at least 500,000 charging stations across the country by 2030, incentives for Americans to buy electric vehicles, and money to convert factories and improve domestic material supplies.

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Failure to resolve the dispute may have cost thousands of jobs in Georgia and threatened the country’s EV market, which accounts for around 2% of new car sales.

The ITC ruled in February that SK Innovation had stolen trade secrets related to EV batteries and ordered the US to stop the company from importing supplies to build batteries.

SK Innovation threatened to close its $ 2.6 billion Georgia facility, which is under construction and could employ 2,600 people unless the ITC decision is overridden. If no agreement was reached, the Biden administration may have had to override the ITC to allow SK Innovation to build the facility.

“Today’s agreement is a positive step in that direction that will bring welcome relief to workers in Georgia and new opportunities for workers across the country,” said Biden.

Jong Hyun Kim, CEO of LG Energy Solution and Jun Kim, CEO of SK Innovation, said in a joint statement that the companies “would compete amicably for the future of the US and South Korean electric vehicle battery industries.” “”

“We are determined to work together to support the Biden government’s climate change agenda and develop a resilient US supply chain,” they said.

Categories
World News

Biden is securing America’s place in world with infrastructure plan

Biden is securing America's place in world with infrastructure plan

It’s hard to overstate how bold President Joe Biden’s first 100 days in office, which will take place on April 30th, are. Behind this is the president’s desire to recharge America and at the same time improve the US’s chances in its escalating competition with China.

Biden’s audacity can best be measured by the numbers: the $ 4 trillion and count he took to fund an American pandemic surge, a surge in jobs and growth in the United States, and a mountain of national infrastructure investments (generous definition of “Infrastructure”) wants to generate. .

Never in my memory has a US president linked domestic investment so closely to US global standing – and now he is acting on that belief.

Biden made sure no one missed the connection to China when he unveiled his infrastructure spending proposal this week, which he described as “the largest single investment in American jobs since World War II.”

Biden asked, “Do you think China is waiting to invest in this digital infrastructure or research and development? I promise you they won’t wait. But they are counting on American democracy to be too slow, too limited and too divided is To keep up … We have to show the world. Much more important is that we show ourselves that democracy works. That we can come together on the big things. It’s the United States of America, for God’s sake! “

Veterans of the Obama years, Biden government officials say they act in several lessons: don’t let cable television’s criticism of your plans distract you, don’t let economists throw you off, don’t expect bipartisan support. and don’t set your sites too low.

“Go big or go home,” a former Obama official told me, summarizing the attitude that drove Biden’s first 100 days. This was made easier because the Democrats continued to control the House, de facto holding the Senate with a 50:50 split – and, if necessary, with a groundbreaking vote by the Vice President.

President Biden showed for the first time how ready he was to go through the US $ 1.9 trillion bailout plan passed in early March, one of the largest stimulus packages Americans had ever seen. It was far more than Republicans or many economists deemed necessary, but Biden had the votes.

Then this week he released plans for $ 2.3 trillion in infrastructure spending. Define this term to include everything from bridges and broadband networks to spending on the elderly and education for the young. As with the first bill, expect this to be largely party-political.

The mistake many of Biden’s critics make is focusing on the staggering numbers – rather than the staggering politics.

Think of all of those trillions less than a shipload of money than Biden’s down payment to secure America’s place in the world, place in history, and re-election of his party. In the short term, that means enough Americans will see results to ensure the 2022 mid-term elections.

In that sense, what appears to fiscal conservatives to be a reckless economy seems like prudent policy for the Biden team.

In some ways, President Biden uses his luck. Although Biden has suffered a great deal of misfortune in his personal and political life, the stars have been targeted since his election.

Covid’s rebound this year has been inevitable, but his government’s disciplined management of vaccine distribution has accelerated the process and his political standing. Biden last week moved the deadline to April 19 for all adults eligible for the COVID vaccine.

An economic recovery this year was also inevitable, but the Biden government’s stimulus measures should lead to growth of 6.4% this year, the highest since 1984, and then 3.5% in 2022, according to IMF projections.

It remains to be seen how much economic and political momentum $ 4 trillion can buy, with more to come. However, JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon believes vaccines and deficit spending could spark a U.S. economic boom that could last through 2023, beyond the mid-term election where the Biden team knows victory is critical to their bigger goals .

It’s also hard to say what impact this will have on China, but so far competition between Beijing and Washington has intensified in the first few weeks of the Biden administration.

International visitors to China in recent years have seen a growing confidence among Chinese leaders in the inevitability of America’s decline and rise.

Many Chinese actions at home and abroad – bullying international partners, expanding the islands in the South China Sea, reversing Hong Kong’s democratic freedoms, and increasing threats to Taiwan – reflect confidence that they can act with relative impunity at a modest cost.

China is also betting that many of America’s most valuable allies and partners – Japan, South Korea, Germany and the European Union as a whole – have China as their number one trading partner and are reluctant to join a common cause against Beijing.

The bitter exchange at the first face-to-face meeting of Chinese and American heads of state and government in Alaska underscored how difficult it will be to have an increasingly militant relationship.

Perhaps the most compelling reason for President Biden to combine his domestic and international goals is that he is more likely to find political consensus on the need to confront China than he will find on any of his own spending plans.

Before Kurt Campbell joined the Biden government as Indo-Pacific coordinator, he wrote with Rush Doshi, who is now China director on the National Security Council, that the Chinese challenge could be a blessing to induce the US to make the appropriate investments in any case prudent.

“The path away from decline … could lead through a rare area prone to bipartisan consensus,” they wrote, “the need for the United States to face the China challenge.”

Frederick Kempe is a best-selling author, award-winning journalist, and President and CEO of the Atlantic Council, one of America’s most influential think tanks on global affairs. He worked for the Wall Street Journal for more than 25 years as foreign correspondent, assistant editor-in-chief and senior editor for the European edition of the newspaper. His latest book – “Berlin 1961: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and the Most Dangerous Place in the World” – was a New York Times bestseller and has been published in more than a dozen languages. Follow him on Twitter @FredKempe and subscribe here to Inflection Points, his view every Saturday of the top stories and trends of the past week.

More information from CNBC staff can be found here @ CNBCopinion on twitter.

Categories
Business

The Week in Enterprise: Amazon Defeats the Union

The Week in Business: Amazon Defeats the Union

Good Morning. Here are the top business and tech stories you should know for the week ahead. – Charlotte Cowles

pictureRecognition…Giacomo Bagnara

Large companies are often good at avoiding taxes to maximize profits for their shareholders. But President Biden wants to make this more difficult with new tax legislation that increases tax rates and closes the loopholes for American companies with annual incomes of more than $ 2 billion. The plan is expected to generate enough tax revenue to fund Mr. Biden’s $ 2 trillion infrastructure proposal. If it gets through Congress (and that’s a big if), what can stop companies from shifting profits overseas to tax havens like the Cayman Islands? The Biden government has a plan for this too: a global minimum tax rate that would apply to multinational companies regardless of their location.

Amazon won its battle against the biggest union surge in company history. The vote count showed that workers in their huge Alabama warehouse had decided not to form a union. The results must be confirmed by federal officials. But it is a severe blow to union organizers and Democrats who believed the time was right for organized labor to gain momentum across the country. It’s also a big win for Amazon, which has been accused of union breach in several states.

For the labor market, it’s two steps forward and one step back. For the second straight week there were new jobless claims, a sign that employment gains, while still promising, will be uneven at times. Although employers created an impressive 916,000 jobs in March, the economy still has 8.4 million fewer jobs than it was before the pandemic. And many sectors that have been almost completely wiped out – like travel, restaurants and bars – are only now returning.

pictureRecognition…Giacomo Bagnara

Coinbase will be the first publicly traded cryptocurrency exchange in the US when it publishes its shares on the Nasdaq this Wednesday. It has grown to become the largest American cryptocurrency company by making it easier for people to buy and sell Bitcoin and other digital tokens. (The company charges a fee every time a customer places an order to trade.) Last week, Coinbase announced that it is expecting revenue of around $ 1.8 billion in the first quarter. That’s a whopping 847 percent year-over-year increase, largely thanks to Bitcoin’s recent rally.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is suing the federal government to allow cruise ships to sail from the state’s ports again. Boats must meet requirements set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last year before they can accept passengers. However, the industry says the instructions are not clear enough. Regardless, several cruise lines have announced plans to resume operations from other ports in the Caribbean and Bermuda, often with a requirement that all passengers must be vaccinated. But Mr. DeSantis has banned Florida companies from asking customers to provide proof of vaccination.

As the coronavirus pandemic led to standstills, undocumented immigrants were particularly hard hit. Their communities suffered disproportionately from high death rates and were largely ineligible for unemployment insurance and other pandemic assistance. Until now it has been like that. In New York, the government is offering one-time payments of up to $ 15,600 to one-time immigrants who lost their jobs during the pandemic and were unable to access other unemployment benefits. The money will come from a $ 2.1 billion fund in the state budget, which critics say should have gone to legal New Yorkers who are struggling.

In another win for Netflix, Sony Pictures Entertainment has signed a five-year deal to grant the streaming giant exclusive rights to its films as soon as they leave theaters. In France, Ikea faces a new lawsuit over a ten-year-old case in which its executives spied on employees and customers. And more bad news for Boeing, the company has advised airlines to ground some of their troubled 737 Max jets – the same model that was grounded for over a year after two fatal accidents – because of an electrical problem.

Categories
Health

Germany well being minister requires lockdown, considers Russian vaccine

Coronavirus anniversary: Europe's slow vaccine rollout

On Tuesday, January 12, 2021, a health care worker will take care of a Covid 19 patient in the intensive care unit of the Robert Bosch Hospital in Stuttgart. Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that Germany would face tough lockdown measures until the end of March if the authorities do not contain a rapidly spreading variant of the coronavirus.

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

LONDON – Germany got one step closer to the nationwide lockdown on Friday when Chancellor Angela Merkel sought to standardize the restrictions across the various states.

“The Infection Protection Act is being changed to give the state the necessary power,” said a government spokesman in Berlin on Friday.

The law update is expected to be approved by lawmakers next week, and a lockdown could be imposed shortly thereafter.

Earlier on Friday, German health officials said they were concerned about the rising coronavirus infections in the country and said a nationwide lockdown was needed to end the ongoing third wave.

Germany has faced high rates of Covid infection since last October, and despite an improvement in February, the number of new cases has increased since the end of March.

“Many citizens recognize the need to break this wave with additional measures, and the majority are in favor of stricter rules. A lockdown is needed to break the current wave,” said German Health Minister Jens Spahn at a press conference on Friday.

This third wave of the coronavirus is putting pressure on the country’s health system at a time when regional and federal governments are arguing over what to do.

“The number of intensive care patients is increasing far too quickly. Doctors and nurses have been under constant stress for months and rightly sound the alarm,” said Spahn.

“We have to break the third wave as quickly as possible. That means: reduce contacts and reduce mobility. This is the only way to prevent further increases.”

The country reported over 30,000 new Covid cases on Wednesday and around 26,000 on Thursday.

German officials disagreed on the right approach to dealing with emerging cases, while citizens were frustrated with the different regimes between different regions.

Federal Finance Minister Olaf Scholz told CNBC earlier this week: “If we could come to similar measures in all locations, this would help a lot and make it more understandable.”

The German health authorities are pushing for an increase in vaccinations in the country, which has already paid off. On Thursday, the daily vaccination count approached 720,000 compared to around 317,000 a week ago, according to the Ministry of Health.

“I think we’re going to a situation where by the end of this month it will be 4 to 5 million doses a week,” Scholz told CNBC.

Sputnik V.

At the press conference on Friday, the Minister of Health confirmed that, according to Reuters, contract negotiations are currently taking place for the purchase of the Sputnik V vaccine developed in Russia. Spahn added that there is still a question mark over whether these vaccines would be available in the coming months.

The European Medicines Agency started evaluating the Russian shot in early March and will decide whether to recommend it for use in the 27 EU member states. Although the regulator is using an urgent method to verify the effectiveness of Sputnik V, it is unclear when final approval could come.

German authorities previously announced they would consider using the Russian vaccine if the EMA concluded that the shot was effective in preventing the Covid-19 virus.

Categories
Politics

Might Ron DeSantis Be Trump’s G.O.P. Inheritor? He’s Actually Attempting.

Could Ron DeSantis Be Trump’s G.O.P. Heir? He’s Certainly Trying.

“We have too many people in this party who don’t fight back,” he told the gathering, according to the New York Times audio. “You can’t be afraid of the left, you can’t be afraid of the media, and you can’t be afraid of big tech.”

The governor has also taken steps to bolster his political standing in dealing with the pandemic, calling reporters to the State Capitol to blow it up Wednesday with a slideshow titled “FACTS VS. SMEARS ”- a report in CBS News’ 60 Minutes that contained insufficient evidence of a pay-to-play dynamic between Mr DeSantis’s government and the distribution of Covid-19 vaccines to white and wealthy Floridians.

His records of the virus are indeed mixed. By some standards, Florida has had average pandemic performance that is not over yet. However, his decisions helped ensure that hospitals were not overwhelmed with coronavirus patients. He emphasizes that he helped businesses survive and enabled children to go to school.

What his critics can’t forget, however, is how he defied some key public health guidelines. An article approving masks written under his name by his staff in mid-July was never approved for publication by the governor. The restrictions he is now dismissing as ineffective, such as local mask mandates and curfews that experts say actually worked, have, in most cases, been imposed by Democratic mayors he hardly speaks to.

However, given the way people admire or despise him, the nuances seem secondary.

He enrags passionate critics who believe he is acting wisely to look after his own interests. They fear that this approach has helped confuse public health messages, the preference for vaccines for the rich, and the deaths of some 34,000 Floridians. “DeathSantis” is what they call him. (Mr. DeSantis declined repeated interview requests for this article.)

But almost at every turn, Mr. DeSantis has used the criticism as an opportunity to become an avatar for national conservatives who enjoy the governor’s willingness to fight. He can score points that his potential Washington minority Republican rivals, including Rubio and Senator Rick Scott, his predecessor as governor, can’t.

Categories
Business

IMF raises Center East development forecast, restoration will likely be ‘divergent’

IMF raises Middle East growth forecast, recovery will be 'divergent'

The International Monetary Fund has revised its growth forecast for the Middle East and North Africa region upwards as the countries recover from the coronavirus crisis that began in 2020.

Real GDP in the MENA region is now projected to grow 4% in 2021, compared to the fund’s October forecast of 3.2%.

However, the outlook will vary significantly from country to country depending on factors such as vaccine adoption, exposure to tourism, and policies in place, the IMF said in its latest regional economic report released on Sunday.

Vaccine is an important variable this year, and speeding up vaccination could add almost an additional percent of GDP in 2022.

Jihad Azour

Director of the IMF for the Middle East and Central Asia

Jihad Azour, director of the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia division, said the recovery was “different between countries and uneven between different segments of the population”.

He told CNBC’s Hadley Gamble that growth will be mainly driven by oil exporting countries, which will benefit from the acceleration in vaccination programs and the relative strength of oil prices.

Vaccines an “important variable”

Azour said each country’s ability to recover in 2021 will be “very different”.

“Vaccine is an important variable this year, and accelerating vaccination could add almost an additional percent of GDP in 2022,” he said.

Some countries in the region – such as the Gulf Cooperation Council states, Kazakhstan and Morocco – started their vaccinations early and should be able to vaccinate a significant portion of their population by the end of 2021, the IMF said.

Other nations, including Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon, have been classified as “slow vaccines” that are likely to vaccinate a large proportion of their residents by mid-2022.

Shoppers in protective masks walk near the Dubai Mall and the Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on Wednesday, January 27, 2021.

Christopher Pike | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The last group – the “late vaccinators” – are not expected to “achieve full vaccination until 2023 at the earliest,” the report said.

It added that early vaccines are expected to hit 2019 GDP levels in 2022, but countries in the two slower categories will recover to pre-pandemic levels between 2022 and 2023.

looking ahead

Azour said innovative guidelines have helped speed the recovery, but it is “very important to do better”.

This could include measures to improve the economy, attract investment, strengthen regional cooperation and tackle the scars of the Covid crisis.

“All of these elements are silver linings that can help accelerate the recovery and bring the region’s economy to levels of growth that existed before the Covid-19 shock,” he said.