Health care and infrastructure spending received significant increases, but fears about inflation could hold back efforts to get the economy surging again.
Tag: Rationing and Allocation of Resources
As Virus Resurges in Africa, Doctors Fear the Worst Is Yet to Come
The coronavirus killed far fewer people in Africa than in Europe and the Americas, leading to a widespread perception that it was a disease of the West. Now, a tide of new cases on the continent is raising alarms.
Waiving Rent and Making Masks, Afghans Meet Coronavirus With Kindness
The health crisis, which has become a fresh test of survival for a country where life has been a daily fight for decades, has provoked a shared sense of responsibility and spontaneous acts of generosity.
The Hardest Questions Doctors May Face: Who Will Be Saved? Who Won’t?
As coronavirus infections explode in the U.S., hospitals could be forced to make harrowing choices if pushed to the brink. Planning is already underway.
Iran Abruptly Raises Fuel Prices, and Protests Erupt
The timing of the announcement suggested an urgent scramble to fill a budget gap caused partly by severe American sanctions. Angry protests over the price increases soon followed.
Cuba Rations Staple Foods and Soap in Face of Economic Crisis
The commerce minister blamed the Trump administration’s hardening trade embargo, but economists give equal or greater blame to a plunge in aid from Venezuela.
North Korea Urgently Needs Food Aid After Worst Harvest in Decade, U.N. Says
The United Nations says four out of every 10 North Koreans are in urgent need of food aid after the country recorded its worst harvest in a decade.
‘It Is Unspeakable’: How Maduro Used Cuban Doctors to Coerce Venezuela Voters
President Nicolás Maduro sent doctors door-to-door to warn the ill and elderly that care would be cut off unless they voted for the governing party, said 16 Cuban physicians who worked in Venezuela.
Feature: Shopping in Pyongyang, and Other Adventures in North Korean Capitalism
Far from the stereotype of total economic isolation, the black market has brought a surprising degree of modernity and consumerism — for some.