The Washington Post (10.03.2021) President Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, which the House passed Wednesday and Biden is expected to sign this week, is mammoth in scope — a number so large it can be hard to conceptualize in concrete terms. But amid a pandemic that has wrought severe economic damage around the world, many governments have made dramatic spending pledges.

reuters.com (09.03.2021) From Australia to Egypt, migrants and refugees have been especially hard hit by job losses and economic pain during the coronavirus pandemic, with many struggling to access healthcare and state aid, a survey showed on Tuesday. The survey, published in a report by the Red Cross Red Crescent (RCRC) Global Migration Lab

reliefweb.int (2020)

The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors today approved a $40 million International Development Association (IDA*) grant for the benefit of the people of South Sudan. The South Sudan Safety Net Project (SSSNP) will expand access to safety net and provide income security for low income South Sudanese, while strengthening delivery tools and local level capacities. Nearly 430,000 people will receive cash transfers in 10 counties across South Sudan, including Juba. Specifically, the project will provide cash transfers to the poorest and most vulnerable people for working on public works projects. It will also provide direct grants to those who are unable to work, including people with disabilities, the elderly and pregnant or breastfeeding women, among others, Total budge allocate is US$40 millions.

africanews.com (25.02.2021)

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has extended an Official Development Assistance loan of up to 30 billion Japanese yen ($289 million) to support Mauritius’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic and rebuild its economy. The loan, signed on 24 February, is a parallel co-financing agreement between JICA and the African Development Bank under the Enhanced Private Sector Assistance for Africa (EPSA) joint initiative to spur private sector-led sustainable and inclusive growth in Africa. The co-financing arrangement will help the Mauritius government contain the pandemic, secure livelihoods, and boost the resilience of the economy.

standard.gm (02.10.2020)

The Government of Gambia announced a new 250M Covid-19 emergency fund to support families affected by the economic downturn of the Covid-19 pandemic that includes the provision of a cash package of D3,000 to all families.

standard.gm (01.10.2020)

The Gambia Government plans to give the country’s struggling tourism industry a lifeline with a support package of one hundred million dalasi. The Government agreed to provide a one-off cash transfer of US$50 to each of the small-scale tourism actors whose contact details are available. Since then arrangement were made with Africell for the transfer to each beneficiary. 

The Economist (06.03.2021) The pandemic may mark a new chapter in the nature of social safety-nets

Development Pathways (03.03.2021) Given the need to address child development issues and to improve the coverage of social protection programmes across Papua, the Provincial Government of Papua (PGP) responded by launching BANGGA Papua, a child grant for all indigenous Papuan children from birth until their 4th birthday. BANGGA Papua has reached over 32,000 children (and 23,000 mothers) through a benefit level of 200,000 IDR (~13.50 USD)  per child per month, and has helped the PGP to realise their commitment of achieving a “Generasi  Emas,” or a golden generation of Papuans. 

cnnindonesia.com (05.01.2021)

The government changed the amount and duration of direct cash assistance ( BLT )  for village funds this year. In the previous PMK, village funds were given for nine months with a total amount of Rp. 600 thousand for the first to third months and Rp. 300 thousand for the fourth to ninth months. Now , in Article 39 of the new PMK, the amount of BLT in village funds is given within 12 months with a value of IDR 300 thousand per month.

worldbank.org (04.01.2021)

Strong data systems can play a crucial role in helping governments monitor, manage, and mitigate the impacts of adverse shocks. Ghana is among the countries pursuing such data initiatives. The government’s social protection authorities augmented and adjusted existing data systems to help inform the design, implementation, and monitoring of the country’s social safety net response to the pandemic. In June 2020, in partnership with the government, the World Bank began administering a special, repeated telephone-based survey to track a sample of beneficiaries of the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) program, which offers small, regular cash benefits to poor and vulnerable households across the country. The survey sought to gather information on the evolving effects of the COVID-19 crisis on LEAP beneficiaries and their coping behaviors.

BBC News (09.03.2021) The £20 weekly increase in Universal Credit must be extended for at least a year to avoid impoverishing hundreds of thousands of people, MPs have warned. The measure, which has been called a lifeline for struggling families, is in place until the end of March.

EURACTIV.com (12.02.2021) Spain’s labour ministry, trade unions, and employer’s associations have agreed this week in principle to a law improving the rights of food delivery workers employed by global digital platforms like Deliveroo, granting them the status of “permanent staff” instead of self-employed.

EURACTIV.com (04.03.2020) An EU reinsurance scheme to support national unemployment benefits was not part of the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan presented on Thursday (4 March), although the European Commission has been supportive of the idea.

Global Development Institute Blog (18.02.2021) Social protection has played a leading role in government responses to Covid-19. Public programmes providing income and in-kind transfers to vulnerable population groups have been strengthened and enhanced to address the effects of the pandemic. In low and middle income countries, the expansion of social assistance provided governments with a ready-made platform to reach and support low income groups. Social assistance infrastructure – social registries, implementation agencies, and local community links – facilitated fast and effective responses to the crisis. In addition to existing conditional income transfers and social pensions, several governments in Latin America implemented temporary income transfer programmes to support workers in informal employment. In high income countries, governments mobilised support for furloughed workers and the unemployed while social assistance transfers plugged the gaps left by welfare state retrenchment. Despite this policy activism, the pandemic has laid bare existing deficiencies in social protection and social assistance (for the USA see here, for the EU here,  and for LMICs here). Looking ahead, the prominent role of public transfers has encouraged expectations that the pandemic could open the door for a reappraisal of investment in social protection.

UN/DESA Policy Brief #92: (Feb 2021) COVID-19 is accelerating the pace of digital transformation: implications for social inclusion

Reuters.com (22.12.2020)

Kenya’s parliament on Tuesday voted to end tax cuts put in place in April to cushion the economy from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, a move lawmakers said would help to plug revenue shortfalls but investors said would hamper a recovery. The tax cuts were introduced weeks after Kenya reported its first case of the coronavirus and aimed to shield East Africa’s richest economy.

apnews.com (01.03.2021) With the floodgates set to open on another round of unemployment aid, states are being hammered with a new wave of fraud as they scramble to update security systems and block scammers who already have siphoned billions of dollars from pandemic-related jobless programs.

aseanbriefing.com (18.02.2021) The House of Representatives in the Philippines have passed House Bill No. 8461 (HB 8461) which seeks to authorize the President to suspend the premium contribution hike to the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), in addition to House Bill No. 8512 (HB 8512), which provides the President the power to defer the scheduled hike in contributions to the Social Security System (SSS). Both PhilHealth and the SSS were mandated by existing laws to increase their premium rates in 2021. However, the onset of the pandemic has drawn opposition from Filipinos and businesses for any increases in premium rates. As such, the government hopes the suspension would provide tax relief for businesses, workers, and the self-employed as the country continues to reel from the economic impact caused by the virus.

ilo.org (23.02.2021)

Up to 17,000 garment workers in Lao PDR affected by the COVID-19 pandemic are to each receive two months’ emergency income support worth 900,000 LAK (approximately US$100). Eligible beneficiaries, of whom 85 per cent are women, will receive the cash transfers by the end of March.

C’est une profession émergente, devenue essentielle à l’heure du confinement : les médiateurs numériques aident à comprendre les outils et les usages digitaux à tous ceux qui ne les maîtrisent pas. Personnes âgées, précaires, mais aussi jeunes, près de 20 % de la population est concernée.

3 axes principaux sont identifiés :

1. Des médiateurs numériques formés, proposant des ateliers d’initiation au numérique au plus proche des Français;
2. Des outils simples et sécurisés pour permettre aux aidants (travailleurs sociaux, agents de collectivité territoriale, etc.) de mieux accompagner les Français qui ne peuvent pas faire leurs démarches administratives seuls;
3. Des lieux de proximité, en plus grand nombre. Ces lieux proposeront de nombreuses activités en lien avec le numérique et accueilleront des médiateurs formés. Ils pourront aussi proposer aux acteurs économiques locaux de mutualiser des machines et des outils pour maintenir et développer leurs activités.

Minesterioa de Economía y Finanzas (03.02.2021) As of February 1, 2021, the payment of the Bond Against Hunger reached more than 3.8 million Bolivians, covering 93% of the total universe of beneficiaries, with an outlay of Bs3,877 million, reported the Vice Minister of Pensions and Financial Services, Ivette Espinoza. The payment of the Bonus against Hunger (Bono contra el Hambre) started on December 1, 2020, becoming the first measure implemented by the Government of Luis Arce Catacora, as a support to people affected by the paralysis of the economy as an effect of the Covid-19 pandemic .

Social Security Agency (25.02.2021) On December 11, Québec's government approved a law introducing the Target Benefit Pension Plan (TBPP), an occupational pension plan that combines certain features of existing defined contribution (DC) and defined benefit (DB) plans. Like a DC plan, a TBPP is funded with employee and employer contributions paid at fixed rates and does not provide guaranteed benefits. However, by pooling its members' assets and setting a target benefit level, a TBPP can provide workers with a predictable periodic pension at retirement like a DB plan. The main objective behind the TBPP is to offer Québec's employers and workers another alternative to traditional DB plans, which have been in decline for many years. Additional regulatory guidance on the TBPP is expected by the end of 2023 from Retraite Québec, which supervises the province's mandatory and voluntary pension plans.

Social Security Administration (25.02.2021) Singapore Introduces Government Match for Provident Fund Catch-up Contributions In January, Singapore's Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board introduced the Matched Retirement Savings Scheme, a program that provides a dollar-for-dollar government match of up to S$600 (US$450.56) per year in catch-up contributions for qualifying CPF members from 2021 to 2025. To be eligible, a CPF member must be aged 55 to 70; have a Retirement Account (RA) balance of less than the Basic Retirement Sum (currently S$93,000 [US$69,836.69]); have average monthly income not exceeding S$4,000 (US$3,003.73); and meet certain asset limits. Anyone can make the catch-up contributions for eligible CPF members, including the members, their families, and their employers. (Catch-up contributions with no government match are allowed for all CPF members with account balances up to a certain limit that varies by age. The government provides tax incentives for up to S$7,000 [US$5,256.52] of catch-up contributions each year.) According to the government, around 440,000 CPF members, representing 53 percent of all members aged 55 to 70, are eligible for the program.

The CPF is a publicly managed provident fund program that is mandatory for most workers (including most public-sector workers) and voluntary for all other workers. Employers contribute 17 percent of monthly payroll greater than S$50 (US$37.55) for employees aged 55 or younger, 13 percent for employees aged 56 to 60, 9 percent for employees aged 61 to 65, or 13 percent for employees aged 66 or older. CPF members contribute 20 percent of monthly earnings of at least S$750 (US$563.20) if aged 55 or younger, 13 percent if aged 56 to 60, 7.5 percent if aged 61 to 65, or 5 percent if aged 66 or older. (CPF members earning at least S$500 [US$375.47] but less than S$750 a month pay a flat monthly amount based on their age and earnings.) CPF contributions are allocated into three different individual accounts: (1) an Ordinary Account (OA) that can be used to finance the purchase of a home, life and mortgage insurance, education, and investments in approved retirement-related financial products (for funds over S$20,000 [US$15,018.64]); (2) a Special Account (SA) that is principally for retirement, but funds over S$40,000 (US$30,037.29) can be invested in approved retirement-related financial products; and (3) a MediSave Account for certain hospitalization and medical expenses. Upon reaching age 55, a fourth account—the RA—is created from the combined account balances of the OA and SA accounts. Funds from the RA can be withdrawn for retirement as early as age 55 if the RA balance exceeds a certain minimum; otherwise, the standard payout age for CPF retirement benefits is 65.