Arising from the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Bank Group is providing financial support of $160 billion to over 100 countries to protect the poor and vulnerable, support businesses, and bolster economic recovery.
The World Bank Group said on Friday that it is taking a broad and fast action to help developing countries strengthen their pandemic response.
“We are supporting public health interventions, working to ensure the flow of critical supplies and equipment, and helping the private sector continue to operate and sustain jobs.
“We will be deploying up to $160 billion in financial support over 15 months to help more than 100 countries protect the poor and vulnerable, support businesses, and bolster economic recovery.
“This includes $50 billion of new IDA resources through grants and highly concessional loans,” the Bretton-wood institution disclosed.
The financial support is coming on the heels of a new World Bank report which reveals that COVID-19 pandemic posed serious threats to gains in health and education over the past decade, especially in the poorest countries.
The World Bank Group’s 2020 Human Capital Index shows that most countries had made steady progress in building human capital of children before COVID-19 pandemic, with the biggest strides made in low-income countries.
The report said, “Despite this progress, and even before the effects of the pandemic, a child born in a typical country could expect to achieve just 56 percent of his or her potential human capital, relative to a benchmark of complete education and full health.
“Twelve Pacific Island countries were included in this Index. Based on the report, a child born today in the Pacific Islands will on average reach 48 percent of his or her full potential, significantly lower than the global benchmark, with the lowest scoring countries being Solomon Islands and Marshall Islands at 42 percent, and Papua New Guinea at 43 percent. Stronger performing countries in the Pacific include Fiji, Kiribati, Samoa, Tonga and Palau.”
The World Bank President, David Malpass, noted that the pandemic puts at risk the decade’s progress in building human capital, including the improvements in health, survival rates, school enrollment, and reduced stunting.
He stated that the economic impact of the pandemic has been particularly deep for women and for the most disadvantaged families, leaving many vulnerable to food insecurity and poverty.
Malpass said, “Protecting and investing in people is vital as countries work to lay the foundation for sustainable, inclusive recoveries and future growth.”
Details of the Bank’s 2020 Human Capital Index show that more than one billion children have been out of school due to the pandemic’s impact and could lose out, on average, half a year of schooling, adjusted for learning, translating into considerable monetary losses.
Data also shows significant disruptions to essential health services for women and children, with many children missing out on crucial vaccinations.
In the Pacific, many countries are responding to multiple crises; with response and recovery efforts continuing following April’s Tropical Cyclone Harold that caused widespread destruction in Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji and Tonga.
The region had also been recovering from one of the worst measles outbreaks recorded, affecting American Samoa, Fiji, Kiribati, Tonga and, most significantly, Samoa – where the outbreak claimed 83 lives, the majority of who were young children.
The 2020 Human Capital Index also presents a decade-long view of the evolution of human capital outcomes from 2010 through 2020, finding improvements across all regions, where data are available, and across all income levels.
These were largely due to improvements in health, reflected in better child and adult survival rates and reduced stunting, as well as an increase in school enrollment. This progress is now at risk due to the global pandemic.
The analysis finds that human capital outcomes for girls are on average higher than for boys.
However, this has not translated into comparable opportunities to use human capital in the labor market: on average, employment rates are 20 percentage points lower for women than for men, with a wider gap in many countries and regions.
Moreover, the pandemic is exacerbating risks of gender-based violence, child marriage and adolescent pregnancy, all of which further reduce opportunities for learning and empowerment for women and girls.
The World Bank Group says it is working closely with Pacific countries to develop long-term solutions to protect and invest in people during and after the pandemic:
This support – to countries including Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu, – is focused on addressing the severe economic, social and poverty impacts of COVID-19, by working to support businesses and safeguard jobs, and advance the reforms needed to shorten the time to recovery, and build conditions for broad-based and sustainable growth.
The World Bank Group’s 2020 Human Capital Index includes health and education data for 174 countries – covering 98 percent of the world’s population – up to March 2020, providing a pre-pandemic baseline on the health and education of children.
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