Hana Sato, Grade 12
UWC Costa Rica
Due to the recent global conflicts, the majority of countries have experienced an inflation of great rates and decline in economical status. Given the inflation, there is a rise of prices for daily products, negatively impacting a big number of the population. There have arised various conflicts and issues on a global scale during recent years. In 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic started spreading at an uncontrollable speed all around the world; this led to an economical crisis due to lock downs in different social sectors. In 2022, when, although not fully, the pandemic got a decrease in cases a new conflict arose, the Russian and Ukraine war. Even more than the pandemic, this conflict created immediate effects. When two huge exporting countries such as Russian and Ukraine start having national border conflicts, many third countries get involved; the effects are mainly the lack of agricultural and fossil fuel supplies. My home country, Guatemala, also got dreadfully damaged.
The effect on Guatemalan prices was huge after the beginning of the war, the consequence in the agricultural sector was not too drastic since in Guatemala many of the consumed diets were nationally produced. On the other hand, the increase of fossil fuel did greatly affect. For the regular gasoline, there was an increase of 40.43% compared to the beginning of the year 2022 (before the war got in its tipping point as is today). This inflation damages the entire population as the transportation gets more expensive and less accessible, since transportation is basic in commerce, this led to an overall increase of prices. Furthermore, this led to a populational discontent, calling for protests, even an increase of delinquency.
The arranged solution was to provide a national subsidy to the petroleum companies. This led to a temporal decrease in prices. However, since this subsidy was just a momentary solution, on August 5th, 2022 it stopped and the fossil fuel prices started to rise again. This response was highly influenced by the national protests happening in the neighbor country Panama. In July 2022, Panama experienced a large- scale population protest due to the economic damages the country is suffering. To avoid similar protests also in Guatemala, the national subsidy was provided.
This national subsidy solution had a high effectivity in terms of diminishing the population's unstoppably increasing discontent; even though it was an only temporary response, these few weeks with lower prices created a hugely positive impact in the nation's economy. For instance, the temporal decrease in prices led to an increase of within country tourism, as well as the recovery of prices for certain foods and national products. However, adding to its temporal effect, its impact to different economic sectors was limited in a national (or even local) level, since international imports or exports still have more restrictions and additional fees.
The recent world has had continuous conflicts and issues, most of them, triggered by human actions. These troubles lead to economic crises in developing countries such as Guatemala. Economic inflation can affect such basic factors as fossil fuel prices, reducing the capacity of products transportation; leading to even worse conditions. To improve the quality of life (QoL) in an equal manner for all the globe population, it is essential that each nation keeps in consideration that one action can affect the entire world, even those vulnerable people in totally different geographical locations.
Citation
Redacción Nacional. "Guatemala shows further increase in gasoline prices and decrease in diesel prices. "CRN Noticias. 2022. CRN Noticias. https://crnnoticias.com/guatemala-muestra-otro-incremento-al-precio-de-gasolina-y-baja-al-diesel/.
https://www.eleconomista.net/actualidad/Precio-de-la-gasolina-en-Guatemala-comienza-a-aumentar-tras-el-fin-del-subsidio--20220808-0022.html
The effect on Guatemalan prices was huge after the beginning of the war, the consequence in the agricultural sector was not too drastic since in Guatemala many of the consumed diets were nationally produced. On the other hand, the increase of fossil fuel did greatly affect. For the regular gasoline, there was an increase of 40.43% compared to the beginning of the year 2022 (before the war got in its tipping point as is today). This inflation damages the entire population as the transportation gets more expensive and less accessible, since transportation is basic in commerce, this led to an overall increase of prices. Furthermore, this led to a populational discontent, calling for protests, even an increase of delinquency.
The arranged solution was to provide a national subsidy to the petroleum companies. This led to a temporal decrease in prices. However, since this subsidy was just a momentary solution, on August 5th, 2022 it stopped and the fossil fuel prices started to rise again. This response was highly influenced by the national protests happening in the neighbor country Panama. In July 2022, Panama experienced a large- scale population protest due to the economic damages the country is suffering. To avoid similar protests also in Guatemala, the national subsidy was provided.
This national subsidy solution had a high effectivity in terms of diminishing the population's unstoppably increasing discontent; even though it was an only temporary response, these few weeks with lower prices created a hugely positive impact in the nation's economy. For instance, the temporal decrease in prices led to an increase of within country tourism, as well as the recovery of prices for certain foods and national products. However, adding to its temporal effect, its impact to different economic sectors was limited in a national (or even local) level, since international imports or exports still have more restrictions and additional fees.
The recent world has had continuous conflicts and issues, most of them, triggered by human actions. These troubles lead to economic crises in developing countries such as Guatemala. Economic inflation can affect such basic factors as fossil fuel prices, reducing the capacity of products transportation; leading to even worse conditions. To improve the quality of life (QoL) in an equal manner for all the globe population, it is essential that each nation keeps in consideration that one action can affect the entire world, even those vulnerable people in totally different geographical locations.
Citation
Redacción Nacional. "Guatemala shows further increase in gasoline prices and decrease in diesel prices. "CRN Noticias. 2022. CRN Noticias. https://crnnoticias.com/guatemala-muestra-otro-incremento-al-precio-de-gasolina-y-baja-al-diesel/.
https://www.eleconomista.net/actualidad/Precio-de-la-gasolina-en-Guatemala-comienza-a-aumentar-tras-el-fin-del-subsidio--20220808-0022.html
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