Post Pandemic Covid-19 Economic Recovery
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POST PANDEMIC COVID-19 ECONOMY RECOVERY Enabling Latin America and the Caribbean to better harness e-commerce and digital trade Thank you for your interest in this ECLAC publication ECLAC Publications Please register if you would like to receive information on our editorial products and activities. When you register, you may specify your particular areas of interest and you will gain access to our products in other formats. www.cepal.org/en/publications ublicaciones www.cepal.org/apps Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Regional Program Alliances for Democracy and Development with Latin America (ADELA) Albrook No. 16 Calle Las Magnolias Ancón, Panama Phone: (+507) 387 4470 Email: [email protected] https://www.kas.de/de/web/regionalprogramm-adela Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) has established the Regional Program “Alliances for Democracy and Development with Latin America” (ADELA) based in Panama. This program aims to contribute to the strengthening of cooperation between liberal democracies in Latin America, Europe and other regions of the world, as well as to provide spaces for dialogue between the different actors. Among the target groups are representatives of national governments and parliaments, international and regional organizations, organized civil society and the economic sector. This document was prepared within the framework of a cooperation agreement with the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, RP ADELA and ECLAC, in collaboration with the IDB. The views expressed in this document, which has been reproduced without formal editing, are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the respective Organizations. Publication of the United Nations, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V and Inter-American Development Bank ISBN: 978-9962-8528-5-8 (pdf version) ECLAC reference number: LC/TS.2021/51 Copyright © United Nations, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V and the IDB, 2021 All rights reserved Printed in Panama City, Panama TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface................................................................................................................................................ 05 Acknowledgements........................................................................................................................... 07 Executive summary........................................................................................................................... 08 Introduction....................................................................................................................................... 12 Part I Global overview of trends and policies to enable e-commerce and digital trade in a post-pandemic recovery 1 Introduction..................................................................................................................................... 15 2 Global trends................................................................................................................................... 17 Overview of global e-commerce before the pandemic................................................................ 18 Global trends in e-commerce during the pandemic..................................................................... 20 3 Impact of the pandemic and policy responses........................................................................... 24 E-commerce readiness assessments and strategy formulation................................................. 26 ICT infrastructure and services....................................................................................................... 27 Payments........................................................................................................................................... 29 Trade facilitation and logistics......................................................................................................... 31 Legal and regulatory frameworks................................................................................................... 34 Skills development............................................................................................................................ 36 Financing............................................................................................................................................ 37 Women in e-commerce.................................................................................................................... 38 4 Final comments............................................................................................................................... 40 References.......................................................................................................................................... 42 Notes................................................................................................................................................... 46 Part II Progress and challenges in e-commerce and digital trade in Latin America and the Caribbean during the COVID-19 pandemic 5 Introduction.................................................................................................................................... 49 6 Recent trends.................................................................................................................................. 54 Trends pre-2020 in Latin America and the Caribbean................................................................... 56 Recent 2020 trends amidst the COVID-19 pandemic................................................................... 61 7 Challenges........................................................................................................................................ 79 8 Analysis of policy responses........................................................................................................ 102 National strategies and institutions to develop and support e-commerce............................. 104 Policy responses to enhance digital connectivity and e-readiness........................................... 106 Policy responses to facilitate trade and logistics......................................................................... 113 Policy responses related to the regulatory environment and legal framework...................... 116 9 Way forward.................................................................................................................................. 118 References........................................................................................................................................ 125 Notes................................................................................................................................................. 133 PREFACE In April 2021, more than a year has passed since the first case of COVID-19 was detected in Latin America and the Caribbean. The spread of the virus in the region has challenged health systems and disrupted social and economic life. It has caused one of the worst crises in recent history in a region, where countries had just recovered from the international financial crisis of 2008-2009. Social distancing and containment measures strongly disrupted people’s consumption patterns and business operations. The application of digital solutions to maintain business and consumption emerged as a natural response to cope with social distancing and restrictive measures. This accelerated a trend that was already incipient in the region before the pandemic, but slow by standards of developed economies. In particular, e-commerce thrived, allowing those businesses that had opened or strengthened digital sales channels as the pandemic unfolded to keep afloat and remain solvent during the crisis. Post Pandemic Covid-19 Economic Recovery Post Pandemic Covid-19 The experience of some developing countries in recurring increasingly to digital solutions to respond to the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the potential of e-commerce to spur resilient economic growth and facilitate economic integration. However, it also showed remaining challenges to bridge digital divides and ensure that the growth of e-commerce reduces inequalities, rather than accentuating them. This context motivated a joint and coordinated effort by a group of eTrade for all partners to assess the global and regional impacts of the pandemic on the uptake of e-commerce, especially among developing countries. This assessment also investigated the challenges faced by businesses and consumers, policy responses by governments, and priority areas of work going forward to leverage digital trade as an enabler of economic recovery. This collective initiative resulted in a set of regional studies and a global one led by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The work for this report was coordinated by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Inter- American Development Bank (IDB), and the ADELA regional program of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), and benefitted greatly from discussions in the context of the eLAC 2022 Digital Agenda for Latin America and the Caribbean. This report shows that Latin America and the Caribbean faces critical policy challenges going forward. It must accelerate the digital transformation to allow businesses and consumers to adapt to a new normal and leverage pandemic recovery to create stronger economies, and also tackle long-standing barriers to adopting digital technologies and bridging digital divides. These have impeded sustained