This note discusses how SMEs are affected by the current COVID-19 pandemic, reports on early evidence and estimates about the impact, and provides an inventory of country responses to foster SME resilience. Given the rapid pace of developments, the overview of country responses is not comprehensive and in some cases includes intended policy responses that are still a work in progress, or simply at the stage of public announcements. This overview will be updated periodically

In the current state of emergency, governments should prioritize transparent public information campaigns, plan strategies that involve marginalized groups in urban areas and indigenous communities, guarantee access to clean water, soap, food, income, and other essential items, ensure internet connectivity, use spaces other than hospitals to isolate COVID-19 patients, and design strategies to safely move patients among medical facilities.

“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.”

Desde la Secretaría de Cumbres se promoverá con los Nodos Nacionales Anticorrupción que se vienen estableciendo con sociedad civil y actores sociales como seguimiento al “Compromiso de Lima: Gobernabilidad Democrática frente a la Corrupción”, el abordaje y la reflexión sobre la pandemia y el monitoreo de recursos destinados a enfrentar la misma. Los nodos serán autogestionados y desde la Secretaría de Cumbres se les ofrecerá espacios virtuales y facilitará diálogos con participación gubernamental, entidades del GTCC, y se canalizarán sus contribuciones a los Estados.

El Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID) aprobó una asistencia no reembolsable de US$60 millones para apoyar a los sectores más vulnerables de Haití frente a la crisis causada por la COVID-19.

La ayuda será administrada por el Fondo de Asistencia Económica y Social (FAES), un organismo autónomo dependiente del Ministerio de Finanzas, que se encarga de implementar los programas de asistencia social en Haití, donde 59 por ciento de la población vive bajo la línea de pobreza.

"What we do is a benefit to the community: migrants have suffered, like many of us, from this pandemic. With this support, we make sure they are not out in the street," said Leticia Chavarría Villa, a doctor who coordinates a six-person medical team in Ciudad Juárez. 

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 Platform for Collaboration on Tax (PCT) – a joint initiative of the IMF, OECD, UN and the World Bank – published today its Progress Report 2020, which gives a snapshot of the world’s four leading multilateral organizations’ cooperation in the area of domestic resource mobilization, including in their responses to COVID-19.

La Torre Este del Hospital Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia ubicado San José Costa Rica, que es financiada por el Banco Centroamericano de Integración Económica (BCIE), será habilitada próximamente como centro de apoyo para la atención de pacientes COVID-19, reforzando la capacidad del sistema de salud del país el cual es liderado y coordinado por la Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS).

Broader structural challenges must be addressed to build back better and transform the region’s development model.

Against the backdrop of pervasive inequality, accessible and comprehensive welfare systems must be developed, fair taxation systems created, decent jobs promoted, environmental sustainability strengthened, and social protection mechanisms reinforced, according to the UN chief. Moreover, regional economic integration is required, with “women participating fully and safely in public and economic life”, he stressed.

The latest OECD Economic Survey of the United States says that even as some businesses reopen with the lifting of coronavirus confinement measures, hard-hit sectors like hospitality and leisure will continue to need support, as will newly unemployed or displaced workers who may need to look for jobs in different sectors. The recent extension of the US Paycheck Protection Program by five weeks to August 8 is a welcome move to help small businesses struggling with the crisis. Extending exceptional unemployment benefits beyond the end-July cut-off date would offer a similar lifeline to the millions of households at risk of falling into poverty, as would assistance for job search (such as employment placement services) and support for geographic mobility.

Alicia Bárcena explained that ECLAC is proposing five, very concrete recommendations: a debt relief initiative through a debt for climate change adaptation swap, which includes the creation of a resilience fund; a debt service standstill and a change in international financial institutions’ (IFIs) eligibility criteria for granting concessional funding; stage contingency bonds, especially with hurricane clauses; green and blue bonds; and liquidity support via the issuance of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs).

WHO Director-General today announced the initiation of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response (IPPR) to evaluate the world’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Operating independently, they will choose other Panel members as well as members of an independent secretariat to provide support.

A joint statement signed by more than a dozen countries that gives seafarers enhanced rights as key workers. The new measures, also supported by other UN agencies and international organizations, enable seafarers to be repatriated and move more freely during the pandemic.

As the world continues to combat COVID-19, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is calling on the German Presidency of the European Union (EU) to keep refugee protection high on the agenda. UNHCR is proposing concrete ways the EU can ensure a bold and robust response to forced displacement during the pandemic as well as long term. The envisaged EU Pact on Migration and Asylum also provides an opportunity for the EU to better protect forcibly displaced people in Europe and abroad, and support host countries.

“Now more than ever, the safety of our society as a whole depends on the effective protection of the most vulnerable. Xenophobia and discrimination undermine our response to the COVID-19 pandemic and efforts to address the socio-economic impacts that disproportionately burden the most vulnerable and marginalized elements of our societies including migrants”, said IOM Director General António Vitorino.

The UN’s trade and development body warned that the loss could rise to $2.2 trillion or 2.8% of the world’s GDP if the break in international tourism lasts for eight months, in line with the expected decline in tourism as projected by the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

The report – Extreme Outlier: The Pandemic’s Unprecedented Shock to Tourism in Latin America and the Caribbean – launches a new global Tourism Dependency Index for countries, including 35 Latin American and Caribbean economies. It urges governments to take unprecedented measures to prevent the spread of the virus, and to support citizens and economies through this shock to the most tourism-dependent region in the world. 

As the world continues to combat COVID-19, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is calling on the German Presidency of the European Union (EU) to keep refugee protection high on the agenda. UNHCR is proposing concrete ways the EU can ensure a bold and robust response to forced displacement during the pandemic as well as long term. The envisaged EU Pact on Migration and Asylum also provides an opportunity for the EU to better protect forcibly displaced people in Europe and abroad, and support host countries.

WHO provides this timeline of the Organization’s COVID-19 response activities for general information. WHO will update the timeline on a regular basis and in light of evolving events and new information. Unless noted otherwise, country-specific information and data are as reported to WHO by its Member States.