Dear Reader,
Poof! In the span of less than six months the world’s economy has been burnt to a crisp by a microscopic killer. Neither the tools we use in the financial markets nor in the political arena seem to very effective in extinguishing this painfully drawn out health firestorm.
The loss of human life and the economic damage incurred may never be accounted for fully. What had at first been paralyzing since our last issue went to press, when we focused on red hot ESG investing, has now become the new reality of lockdown, working from home, and a new entrant into the global lexicon: social distancing.
Science is playing a catch up game to find a fix, while the human desire to socialize proves a formidable obstacle to give the global economy a chance to fly high again.
Latin America and the Caribbean have yet to reach their peak rates of infection and death. And yet, we do not see society standing still. In any struggle there remains hope, and certainly we see that in how governments, businesses, and investors are reacting to a scourge that has taken in a blip of time 500,000 lives, and counting.
It is going to be the sheer force of human will that will see us through this pandemic. Evidence of that can be found in the innovative tools described in Vinod Sreeharsha’s deep dive look at how financial technology is handling its crisis moment by keeping society digitally stitched together. We Learn from Amy Guthrie the how COVID-19 spares no government from scrutiny with cracks in the region’s economy more exposed than ever. New investors, and those who think they’ve seen it all before, would do well to dig in on Charles Newbery’s examination of lockdown investing and how to prepare for life after COVID-19. And while the phoenix on our front cover by Ivan Canu is struggling to lift the world out of COVID’s ashen grip, there is renewed focus on what kind of soothing returns might be earned from growth in green investing. But you will have to tiptoe through the ESG data and the evidence presented by Jo Bruni.
We are doing a bit of innovating ourselves. This is the first all digital edition of LatinFinance’s quarterly magazine, as we navigate to keep our journalism aloft with the shifting times. We are adding it to our robust Daily Brief digital newsletter. I am proud to bring podcasting to our platform through our newly launched LatinFinance Connect series. We use the tool in this edition to enrich a story on how impact investors are handling the crisis. We are also taking advantage of the digital space to enrich our use of graphics to help visualize market trends.
We hope that the spirit of rising up and renewal can be taken from this edition and put to good use by you, our loyal subscribers, and to new readers who have found us as a source of exclusive news and insight on the region during this chaotic time. We ask that you please help support our independent journalism with a new or renewed subscription. Fair and balanced reporting is critical for healthy markets that societies need to support and build the right projects and businesses at the right time. We cannot do that kind of work as extensively without you.
From our families to yours, we hope that you are well and that you stay well!
Daniel Bases
Managing Editor