The New Humanitarian (04.05.2020 ) African governments moved fast to contain COVID-19, but providing support to those hit hardest among the urban poor is more difficult.
Center For Global Development (01.05.2020) The Ehsaas Emergency Cash program was launched at the end of March to distribute funds to 12 million families (an estimated 67 million people) whose livelihood has been severely impacted by the COVID-19 epidemic or its aftermath. Each eligible family is entitled to 12,000 Pakistani rupees (PKR), equivalent to $72.07. As of the end of April, 6.6 million beneficiary families representing some 37 million people had already received the payment, for a total of PKR 79.2 billion ($476 million).
Development Pathways (24.04.2020) The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has released the first part of a Special Series on Fiscal Policies to Respond to COVID-19 titled “Managing Fiscal Risks under Fiscal stress” that looks at “the Impact on Households: Assessing Universal Transfers (UT)”.
World Economic Forum (06.04.2020) The COVID-19 pandemic has helped widen global usage for chatbot technology. After the pandemic, the use of chatbots for healthcare applications will continue to grow. Public and private stakeholders must come together to maximize these benefits while minimizing risks.
Bloomberg (05.04.2020) The Spanish government is working to roll out a universal basic income as soon as possible, as part of a battery of actions aimed at countering the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, according to Economy Minister Nadia Calvino. Social Security Minister Jose Luis Escriva is coordinating the project and plans to put some sort of basic income “in place as soon as possible,” with the main focus on assisting families, Calvino, who also serves as deputy prime minister, said in an interview Sunday night with Spanish broadcaster La Sexta.
developmentpathways.co.uk (April 2020) The COVID-19 crisis has taught us some swift and valuable truths about social protection. In this new context, the simplistic dichotomy of the ‘poor and non-poor’ – which has often driven social protection policy – makes even less sense than it did prior to the crisis. Today’s apparently secure formal sector employee is tomorrow’s ‘poor person,’ once s/he becomes ill or loses their job and income. We need to think differently about the way we conceptualise social security, and we must remember these lessons long after the crisis is over.
info.gov.hk (26.02.2020)
To stimulate the economy by boosting local consumption and relieve the financial burden on the community, Mr Chan announced a cash payout of $10,000 to Hong Kong permanent residents aged 18 or above. "This measure, which involves an expenditure of about $71 billion, is expected to benefit about 7 million people," Mr Chan said.
The Globe and Mail (19:03.2020) The government of Canada has responded to the economic crisis facing Canadian families by proposing to spend $27-billion dollars, by making existing programs easier to access (employment insurance); designing a new program (a new Emergency Care Benefit); expanding existing programs for students, seniors and Indigenous peoples among others; and allowing Canadians to defer filing and paying taxes.
bruegel.org (12.03.2020) 'Whatever it takes' needs to be the motto to preserve lives and reduce the impact on the economy of the epidemic.
politico.eu (13.03.2020) Here's a roundup of the latest measures the 27 EU countries and the U.K. have taken so far in response to the pandemic — from the most to the least affected countries — according to publicly available information from national authorities and media reports.
