World Bank “pandemic bonds” may explain why the WHO has yet to declare the coronavirus a “pandemic” … even as it spreads to over 60 countries
03/03/2020 / By JD Heyes
Even as the first American dies of the Wuhan coronavirus and the first U.S. state declares an emergency to prepare for what a much wider outbreak, the U.S. government has yet to declare a “pandemic,” but there could be significant financial reasons for that.
As reported by MintPress News, there’s “a little-known specialized bond” that was created in 2017 by the World Bank that could be behind the reason why the U.S. and other global health authorities refuse to use the “p-word” to describe the blossoming virus outbreak.
The bonds, which are now often referred to as “pandemic bonds,” were reportedly intended to transfer potential pandemic risks in low-income nations to financial markets.
But, despite the growing outbreak, as we have regularly reported, “the investors who purchased those products could lose millions if global health authorities were to use that label in relation to the surge in global coronavirus cases,” MPN noted further.
Last week, officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that national health authorities are working with state officials to prepare for a “potential pandemic” of the virus, which originated in China in December, if it begins to spread across the country. As of Friday, the World Health Organization stated that more than 80,000 people around the world had contracted the virus; in China alone, more than 2,700 have died from it.
Some are now saying that the CDC’s concerns about a potential pandemic are too little, too late, and that the Trump administration should have leapt into action much sooner.
For example, MPN noted, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, said in an interview with The New York Times that the virus is “very, very transmissible, and it almost certainly is going to be a pandemic.”
In addition, former CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden added that it is “increasingly unlikely that the virus can be contained.”
So what gives? Where is the designation?
Well, recall that last week, after the CDC and others mentioned that yes, indeed, the U.S. could be looking at a pandemic soon, Wall Street tanked and lost nearly $1.7 trillion in value, or more than 12 percent of its value — the biggest weekly loss since the 2008 “Great Depression.”
A $425 million hit to investors?
Also, as Natural News reported, the WHO has also held off calling the virus a “pandemic,” with its director, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus telling the press the virus wasn’t a “pandemic” yet because the world hasn’t seen “large-scale deaths.”
We’re not seeing an “uncontained global spread,” you see, and “using the word ‘pandemic’ does not fit the facts.”
“We must focus on containment while preparing for a potential pandemic,” he added.
Right after those words, coronavirus began spreading around the world to more countries, including the U.S., where there has now been a virus-related death.
This is where “pandemic bonds” come into play, MPN reports:
Some analysts have argued that these pandemic bonds were never intended to aid low-income pandemic-stricken countries, but instead to enrich Wall Street investors. For instance, American economic forecaster Martin Armstrong has called the World Bank’s pandemic bonds “a giant gamble in the global financial casino” and a “scheme like no other…”
He adds that the bonds could become “a structured derivative time bomb” that blows up financial markets if the WHO declares a full-blown coronavirus pandemic. Armstrong noted further that it is in the global health organization’s interest to make the declaration, but in doing so, bondholders would suffer significant losses.
“What’s important is to focus on who stands to benefit from this not being declared a pandemic,” economic and business analyst and host of the podcast “Quoth the Raven” Chris Irons told MPN.
WHO could have other reasons for not making the pandemic declaration, MPN noted, but the most obvious seems to be to avoid a $425 million pandemic bond payout by investors.
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Tagged Under: banks, Collapse, corruption, financial markets, fraud, investments, investors, outbreak, pandemic, pandemic bonds, risk, stock market, u.s. government, WHO, World Health Organization
