“The G7 countries pledged a massive scale-up in support of developing-country financing at their recent summit in the UK. How it will be financed remains an open question. But analyzing trends in recent debt flows by lenders to developing countries, and taking stock of the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI), can provide some important lessons for the G7’s new ambitions.”
“Although the dropout rate has remained stable, repetition rates have increased significantly in Senegal. The high repetition rate is concerning, first because it translates to a lack of learning, and second because it will increase the age range of students in the next cohort.”
“With the pandemic far from over, financing conditions could shift rapidly and bring many governments knocking on the World Bank’s door for budget support. The World Bank should rethink its approach to crisis response budget support operations going forward and pursue a policy agenda that directly advances governments’ pandemic response and recovery frameworks.”
“It is difficult to think of a more urgent global priority and it is surely a best buy in international development. But does that mean that these vaccine donations should count as official development assistance (ODA)? That’s an active debate in the halls of the Development Assistance Committee, which set the rules on what counts as ODA.”
“Importantly, stepped up financing by the IMF needs to be part of a broader package of enhanced international support to LICs, including through commensurate action by the multilateral development banks and bilateral agencies.”
“We have seen calls for solidarity and kindness fall on deaf ears—it is time to stop hoping or pretending that this will be enough. What’s really needed is concerted action, dedicated financing, and a pact among nations to finally deal with COVID-19.”
“There is a continued need for governments and their global health partners to invest in generating local data and evidence, not just modeled effects, that can build our understanding of what’s happening on the ground. This includes facility-level data but also collecting information at the community level, leveraging opportunities through community health workers and other methods.”
“The net health effect of COVID-19 lockdowns in South Africa cannot yet be assessed because causes of death data have not been made available. There is reason to anticipate significant future health consequences of lockdown.”
“The lockdown reduced access to health services while institutional mortality fell due to reduced number of patients. There is need to emphasize other mitigation measures rather than lockdowns.”
“The benefits of vaccine manufacturing capacity expansion are much higher to society than to a vaccine developer. Underinvestment in manufacturing capacity which leads to slower pace of vaccination creates an average monthly GDP loss of $500 billion—a cost borne by all of society.”
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