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.

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.

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?

El Secretario General de la OEA, en calidad de Presidente del Grupo de Trabajo Conjunto de Cumbres (GTCC), y en coordinación con la OPS, convocó el viernes 3 de abril de 2020 a las altas autoridades de las organizaciones internacionales y regionales que conforman el GTCC, a una reunión virtual para abordar sus esfuerzos frente a la pandemia y discutir una respuesta coordinada y conjunta en apoyo a las necesidades y actuales acciones de los Estados Miembros, así como en el marco de su proceso de recuperación. Los miembros del GTCC acordaron reunirse periódicamente para asegurar una coordinación continua y actualizar la información compartida que muestre un panorama de las acciones de la comunidad interamericana en apoyo a los países de la región. Ver comunicado. Desde la Secretaría de Cumbres, como Secretaría Técnica del Proceso de Cumbres, y del GTCC, se prepara la realización y el seguimiento de las referidas reuniones de las altas autoridades del GTCC.  Además de la OEA y la OPS, integran el GTCC el Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID), la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), la OPS, el Banco Mundial, el Instituto Interamericano de Cooperación para la Agricultura (IICA),  el Banco de Desarrollo de América  Latina (CAF), el Banco de Desarrollo del Caribe (CDB), el Banco Centroamericano para la Integración Económica (CABEI), la Organización Internacional para las Migraciones (OIM), la Organización Internacional del Trabajo (OIT), el Programa de Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo (PNUD) y la Organización para la Cooperación y el Desarrollo Económicos (OCDE).

Las Altas Autoridades de las organizaciones que conforman el Grupo de Trabajo Conjunto de Cumbres se reunieron virtualmente a fin de coordinar los esfuerzos para brindar apoyo en las áreas de preparación, mitigación y recuperación de la crisis. La reunión fue convocada por el Presidente del GTCC, el Secretario General de la Organización de los Estados Americanos (OEA), Sr. Luis Almagro.

World Bank Group launches first operations for COVID-19 (coronavirus) emergency health support, strengthening developing country responses.
Broader economic program would provide up to $160 billion over next 15 months.