The “World Bank’s Response to COVID-19 (Coronavirus) In Latin America & Caribbean” website section of the World Bank is a platform which allows citizens to see what the Bank is doing in each country of the region to support their efforts in addressing COVID-19-related impacts, through new operations and by redirecting funds from existing projects.

General overview

Data is critical to support countries in managing the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This site provides an array of real-time data, statistical indicators, and other types of data that are relevant to the coronavirus pandemic. These data are drawn from the World Bank’s data catalog and other authoritative sources.

As countries around the world battle the coronavirus pandemic, a troubling gap has come to light: there simply aren’t enough face masks, ventilators and test kits to go around. Demand for face masks is estimated to be four times the world’s current manufacturing capacity, according to the World Health Organization. For ventilators, demand is 10 times bigger than existing capacity. Over the next four months, the world is likely to face a shortage of more than 300 million test kits, according to the WHO and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

“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.”

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.

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.

Over the past three months, the World Bank Group has mounted the fastest crisis response in its history. We are now financing emergency operations in over 100 countries – home to 70% of the global population.

In this virtual interview, David Malpass, President of the World Bank Group, discussed the path ahead for developing countries. What will a robust and resilient recovery look like? How can we promote economic growth, support the poorest, and sustain businesses and jobs?

This webinar falls under the cooperation initiatives being pursued by the Summits of the Americas Secretariat within the framework of implementation of the Mechanism for Follow-up and Implementation of the Lima Commitment, with the participating states, Joint Summit Working Group (JSWG) entities, and civil society and social actors.

El Grupo Banco Mundial (GBM) anunció hoy que sus operaciones de emergencia para combatir la COVID‑19 (coronavirus) han llegado a 100 países en desarrollo, donde vive el 70 % de la población mundial. Desde marzo, el GBM ha proporcionado en muy poco tiempo niveles sin precedentes de apoyo para ayudar a los países a proteger a los pobres y vulnerables, reforzar los sistemas de salud, mantener el sector privado e impulsar la recuperación económica. Este apoyo, la mayor y más rápida respuesta a la crisis en la historia del GBM, marca un hito en el cumplimiento de su promesa de proporcionar USD 160 000 millones en donaciones y asistencia financiera a lo largo de 15 meses para ayudar a los países en desarrollo a responder a las consecuencias sanitarias, sociales y económicas de la COVID-19 y al cierre de las economías en los países avanzados.

The COVID-19 pandemic threatens education progress worldwide through two major shocks: the near-universal closing of schools at all levels and the economic recession sparked by pandemic-control measures, says The World Bank.

Announcement by the World Bank on Ms. Anna Bjerde, a Swedish national, becoming the new World Bank Vice President for Europe and Central Asia on May 1^st, 2020. In this position, Ms. Bjerde will lead the World Bank’s strategic, analytical, operational and knowledge work in the region.

The World Bank is proceeding at full speed with our COVID-19 support. Using the fast-track approach developed in April, the World Bank is currently assisting 93 countries with COVID-related health projects, with support in another 18 countries expected shortly. The broad support efforts can be viewed on this interactive map of the World Bank’s ongoing COVID-19 projects.

Large-scale, national efforts to utilize technology in support of remote learning, distance education and online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic are emerging and evolving quickly.

The global economic shock of the COVID-19 pandemic has driven most commodity prices down and is expected to result in substantially lower prices over 2020, the World Bank said in its April Commodity Markets Outlook.

Summary of Development Committee Communiqué

Sustainable Development Bond Raises Awareness for Health and COVID-19 Response

The World Bank Group is committed to providing a fast, flexible response to the coronavirus pandemic. We are offering financing, policy advice and technical assistance in every region, across every area from healthcare and education to trade and technology. In this blog series we explore how different teams around the World Bank Group are responding to the challenges ahead.

As the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic continues, governments and emergency services are focusing on immediate needs: boosting capacity in hospitals, addressing hunger, and protecting firms and families from eviction and bankruptcy. The majority of the funds flowing so far from the World Bank, the IMF, other regional development banks, or central banks seek to provide funds for protective gear at hospitals, stabilize financial institutions, pay companies to provide goods and services to essential workers, or provide direct cash support to households.

Governments all over the world are undertaking emergency financing measures to support their response to the COVID-19 pandemic. One question that has emerged in policy discussions is whether the public sector wage bill, which accounts for roughly 8% of GDP and 30% of government expenditures globally, should be cut to finance some of this emergency response? Governments in Brazil and Uruguay, for example, are considering cutting public sector salaries, and Montenegro has suspended payments for some civil servant allowances. Is this a good idea?