The project includes the adoption of public policies that promote innovation, entrepreneurship and business productivity, all of which are considered essential to help the country recuperate from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

El Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID) aprobó una operación para Costa Rica por valor de US$265 millones, que busca asegurar los niveles mínimos de ingreso y de empleo para la población más vulnerable del país -en el período inmediato y durante la recuperación económica- frente a la crisis causada por el COVID-19.

Using technology can help in major economic sectors hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, such as remittances and public finances. As remittances decline, technology applied to international money transfers can generate efficiencies that help maximize the amount of money reaching recipients. As for public finances, the pandemic has made clear the need to be able to identify those most vulnerable and in need of government aid, a task in which technology can be very useful. In addition, as the digital economy becomes more and more important in daily life and public finances need to be strengthened, digital taxation will grow increasingly relevant.

“There is still a lot of uncertainty about the possibility of any economic recovery in the second half of the year,” says Pamela Coke-Hamilton, UNCTAD’s director of international trade.

“International trade is likely to remain below the levels observed in 2019,” she adds, “but how far depends on the pandemic’s evolution and the type and extent of the policies governments adopt as the try to restart their economies.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered the most severe recession in nearly a century and is causing enormous damage to people’s health, jobs and well-being, according to the OECD’s latest Economic Outlook.

As restrictions begin to ease, the path to economic recovery remains highly uncertain and vulnerable to a second wave of infections. Strengthening healthcare systems and supporting people and businesses to help adapt to a post-COVID-19 world will be crucial, it says.

Investment flows are expected to slowly recover starting 2022, led by global value chains (GVCs) restructuring for resilience, replenishment of capital stock and recovery of the global economy.

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.

El Ministerio de Hacienda, a través de la Subsecretaría de Estado de Administración Financiera y la Dirección General de Presupuesto, elaboró el informe denominado “Paraguay ante la Pandemia”, completo compendio que pone a disposición de la toda la ciudadanía, cuyo objetivo es informar sobre las acciones adoptadas por el Gobierno Nacional en un escenario de crisis sanitaria, económica y social por el efecto del Covid-19.

This joint IMF-World Bank note provides a set of high-level recommendations that can guide national regulatory and supervisory responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and offers an overview of measures taken across jurisdictions to date.

Measures taken to combat the spread of COVID-19 have an unprecedented impact on businesses and consumers, challenging governments to both protect consumers’ economic interests and prevent airlines from going bust. Amicable solutions, where consumers accept some new conditions proposed by airlines, are a good way of preserving both consumers’ rights and the service itself.

Cooperation among countries of the South cannot substitute for the actions required by the wider international community but it can bring a degree of relief and support with recovery.

As important, it can provide a blueprint for the kind of international coordination and cooperation that will be needed to recover better than after previous crises.

With this in mind, a South-South cooperation agenda needs to build around three broad objectives: scaling-up financial resources; enhancing policy space; and building resilience.

The contraction responds to the continuation of a downward trend that began in early 2019, when exports from the region declined by 2.2 percent, and to the first effects of the economic crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The downturn in global demand hit the region through both the price and volume channels, according to the latest edition of Trade Trend Estimates for Latin America and the Caribbean.

El programa priorizará el apoyo a la sostenibilidad de las MIPYME agropecuarias y su cadena de valor como sostén del empleo frente a la crisis, y con foco en la seguridad alimentaria. De igual forma, el programa también podrá financiar a otros sectores relevantes que hayan sido afectados por la crisis actual.

Short-term response measures to address the health emergency and secure core public services will need to be accompanied by comprehensive policies to boost long-term growth, including by improving governance and business environments, and expanding and improving the results of investment in education and public health. To make future economies more resilient, many countries will need systems that can build and retain more human and physical capital during the recovery – using policies that reflect and encourage the post-pandemic need for new types of jobs, businesses and governance systems.

FDI flows are expected to fall by more than 30% in 2020 even under the most optimistic scenario for the success of the public health and economic support policy measures taken by governments to address the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting recession. FDI flows to developing countries are expected to drop even more because sectors that have been severely impacted by the pandemic, including the primary and manufacturing sectors, account for a larger share of their FDI than in developed economies.

The COVID-19 pandemic and efforts to contain the virus are exacting a staggering economic toll in countries around the world. China’s economy shrank 6.8 percent in the first quarter of 2020 on a year-on-year basis, and Eurozone economies shrank at a14.8 percent annualized rate. In the United States, nearly 28 million persons filed new claims for unemployment benefits over the six-week period ending April 25. 1 The U.S. economy shrank at an annualized rate of 4.8 percent in the first quarter of 2020, and many analysts project it will shrink at a rate of 25% or more in the second quarter.2 Yet, even as much of the economy is shuttered, some firms are expanding in response to pandemic-induced demand shifts. As noted in a recent Wall Street Journal article, “The coronavirus pandemic is forcing the fastest reallocation of labor since World War II, with companies and governments mobilizing an army of idled workers into new activities that are urgently needed.”3 In other words, Covid-19 is also a major reallocation shock.

Durante 2019 la escasa dinámica de la economía regional se puso de manifiesto en la debilidad de la generación de empleo asalariado —específicamente, de empleo registrado— y en el leve aumento interanual de la tasa de desocupación como promedio ponderado a nivel nacional. Los primeros meses de 2020 están marcados por la irrupción de la pandemia de la enfermedad por coronavirus (COVID-19), que hizo necesaria la aplicación de políticas de confinamiento. Esta situación redundó en la interrupción de las actividades económicas a una escala nunca antes vista a nivel mundial. Los países de América Latina y el Caribe deberán enfrentar grandes caídas de su producto interno bruto con importantes consecuencias en sus mercados laborales, en un contexto de debilidad y vulnerabilidad macroeconómica.

The project launched this month will implement UN solutions, standards, guidelines, metrics, tools and methodologies to help developing countries build transport, trade and logistics resilience in the wake of COVID-19.

It seeks to equip governments in developing and least developed countries to adapt to new post-COVID-19 conditions by tapping into UN expertise, standards, tools and guidance, while considering their specific and local conditions.

Crédito de apoyo presupuestario de us$250 millones contribuirá a financiar los esfuerzos del país para hacer frente a los efectos sanitarios y económicos de la pandemia del covid-19.

El crédito también contempla compromisos de las autoridades para reducir el déficit fiscal, focalizar la inversión pública en áreas de alta relevancia para la reactivación económica y mantener una economía competitiva y transparente, una vez que se supere la emergencia sanitaria.