Many countries are making “green” recovery measures a central part of stimulus packages to drive sustainable, inclusive, resilient economic growth and improve well-being in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. However some countries are also implementing measures that risk having a negative environmental impact and locking in unsustainable growth, according to new OECD analysis discussed by member country ministers today. New OECD analysis, Making the Green Recovery Work for Jobs, Income and Growth, indicates that OECD member governments have committed USD 312 billion of public resources to a green recovery, according to a preliminary estimate that will be refined in the coming months. However, a number of other measures within broader recovery packages are going into “non-green” spending such as fossil fuel investments.

The report Temporary Basic Income: Protecting Poor and Vulnerable People in Developing Countries estimates that it would cost from $199 billion per month to provide a time-bound, guaranteed basic income to the 2.7 billion people living below or just above the poverty line in 132 developing countries.

The report concludes that the measure is feasible and urgently needed, with the pandemic now spreading at a rate of more than 1.5 million new cases per week, particularly in developing countries, where seven out of ten workers make a living through informal markets and cannot earn money if they are at home.

The joint OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2020-2029 report finds that over the next ten years supply growth is going to outpace demand growth, causing real prices of most commodities to remain at or below their current levels. Fluctuations in the driving factors of supply and demand could lead to strong price variations around this general path. At the same time, a decrease in disposable incomes in low-income countries and households caused by COVID-19 is expected to depress demand in the early years of this outlook and could further undermine food security.

El último Estudio económico de Costa Rica de la OCDE muestra que políticas públicas consistentes, incluyendo la apertura comercial y el uso sostenible de los recursos naturales, han permitido triplicar el PIB per cápita en tres décadas. Los niveles de vida son altos, con un acceso casi universal a la educación, la salud y las pensiones. Además, el impulso reformista ha sido sobresaliente en los últimos 18 meses, habiendo llevado a término numerosas iniciativas ligadas a la adhesión de Costa Rica a la OCDE. Sin embargo, los altos déficits públicos y el rápido incremento de la deuda pública ponen en riesgo estos logros, incluso sin las presiones añadidas derivadas de la crisis del coronavirus.

“Productivity levels in emerging markets and developing economies remain less than 20 percent of the average in advanced economies, and only 2 percent in low income countries,” said World Bank Vice President for Equitable Growth, Finance and Institutions, Ceyla Pazarbasioglu. “A possible silver lining may be that changes in behavior from the pandemic will accelerate the adoption of new technologies, greater efficiencies among businesses, and the pace of scientific innovation. However, it is vital to ensure that these gains are widely distributed and that technology-driven labor market disruptions are well managed.”

A $76.2 million loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) will help finance efforts to contain the pandemic, mitigate its effect on poor households, and promote counter-cyclical policies that will ease the crisis' short-term effect on the economy.

The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the Central American Program for Integrated Coffee Rust Management (PROCAGICA) collaborated to distribute seeds and inputs to coffee farmers in several districts in Nicaragua, as part of strategic actions to assist in reducing rural vulnerability triggered by Covid-19.

The objective is to reduce vulnerability in two ways: by supporting the production of food with short cycle crops and offering farmers the opportunity to earn income by selling crop surpluses.

In countries with strict levels of lockdown, domestic workers, whether formally or informally employed, have been unable to go to work. But while some of those formally employed still had access to unemployment insurance, for domestic workers in informal employment staying home has meant losing their livelihoods with no safety net to fall back on, making it difficult for them to put food on the table.

Millions more children risk being pushed into child labour as a result of the COVID-19 crisis , which could lead to the first rise in child labour after 20 years of progress, according to a new brief from the International Labour Organization (ILO) and UNICEF.

According to COVID-19 and child labour: A time of crisis, a time to act, child labour decreased by 94 million since 2000, but that gain is now at risk.

Existing global estimates indicate that 152 million children are being put to work, but the figure is due to be updated next year, once the wider impact of coronavirus lockdown precautions become clearer.

“As the pandemic wreaks havoc on family incomes, without support, many could resort to child labour”, said Guy Ryder, Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO), marking the World Day Against Child Labour.

La CEPAL propone dinamizar sectores claves para la infraestructura y la sostenibilidad de la vida. Uno de ellos es la economía del cuidado y otro, la potencialización de sectores bajos en emisiones de carbono, donde las mujeres debieran tener una participación muy activa, afirmó hoy Alicia Bárcena.

Durante su intervención, afirmó que, sin duda, la feminización de la pobreza es uno de los grandes temas de esta región. Y en estos tiempos de pandemia hay un impacto desproporcionado en las mujeres trabajadoras. Además, aseguró que en estos tiempos le preocupa que se vean mermados los presupuestos de las entidades de género.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) approved a budget support loan to El Salvador of $250 million to strengthen the efficiency and effectiveness of public policy and fiscal management to address the health and economic crisis caused by COVID-19.

The program supports the introduction of temporary measures to protect the income of vulnerable households and to increase the liquidity of firms during the health and economic crisis, among which the allocation of a monetary contribution to low-income households, suspension temporary payment of domiciliary services, and the postponement of the payment of taxes for certain groups of companies and shops.

Economic activity among advanced economies is anticipated to shrink 7% in 2020 as domestic demand and supply, trade, and finance have been severely disrupted. Emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs) are expected to shrink by 2.5% this year, their first contraction as a group in at least sixty years. Per capita incomes are expected to decline by 3.6%, which will tip millions of people into extreme poverty this year.

41.000 personas en 9 países respondieron a una encuesta remota sobre cómo la COVID-19 ha afectado sus medios de vida, seguridad alimentaria y acceso a mercados. Las principales preocupaciones de las personas que aceptaron completar la encuesta realizada en línea fueron: incapacidad para cubrir sus necesidades alimentarias, pérdida parcial o total de ingresos debido a la crisis generada por la pandemia, y miedo a la propagación del virus.