Indicative Socio-Economic Impacts of the Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) Outbreak in Eastern Africa

Indicative Socio-Economic Impacts of the Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) Outbreak in Eastern Africa
Author: Alfred Bizoza
Publisher:
Total Pages: 23
Release: 2020
Genre:
ISBN:
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The COVID-19 pandemic has already affected the world both in terms of people's lives and the global and national economies. The impacts are different as countries, and their respective policy responses are varied. There is so far a mixture of anticipated effects on African economies with little specific cases to demonstrate how each country is responding to the short and mid-term effects of the virus. This paper is among the fewer emerging case studies for Africa and addresses the case of Rwanda. It documents the on-going policy response measures and the anticipated short to medium socioeconomic impacts of COVID-19 with a focus on external merchandise trade, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and agriculture. Our results indicate that despite promising stepwise policy measures taken by the government of Rwanda and how the population is positively responding to these measures, these sub-sectors will be negatively affected by the COVID-19 though at different levels. The external merchandise trade and SMEs are expected to be more affected than the agriculture sector . The policy response will need more innovative actions beyond monetary and fiscal measures addressing immediate effects such as liquidity constraints but seed for resilience of long-term effects of the pandemic as well as the recovery of the entire economy in Rwanda.

Assessing the economywide impacts of COVID-19 on Rwanda’s economy, agri-food system, and poverty: A social accounting matrix (SAM) multiplier approach

Assessing the economywide impacts of COVID-19 on Rwanda’s economy, agri-food system, and poverty: A social accounting matrix (SAM) multiplier approach
Author: Aragie, Emerta
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Total Pages: 35
Release: 2021-05-17
Genre: Political Science
ISBN:
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Rwanda’s policy response to COVID-19 has been widely praised for its rapid, systematic, and comprehensive approach to containing the pandemic. Although the economic consequences are unavoidable, the country expects to return its economy to its high-growth trajectory as the pandemic subsides. We use economic modeling tools designed to estimate the short-term economywide impacts of the unanticipated, rapid-onset economic shocks of COVID-19 on Rwanda. - Results show that during the six-week lockdown that began in March, Rwanda’s GDP fell 39.1 percent (RWF 435 billion; USD 484 million) when compared to a no-COVID situation in the same period. - Results further show that Rwanda’s GDP in 2020 will be between 12 and 16 percent lower than a predicted no-COVID GDP, depending on the pace of the recovery. The losses in annual GDP are between RWF 1.0 and 1.5 trillion (USD 1.1–1.6 billion). - While GDP for the industrial and services sectors were estimated to have fallen during the lockdown period by 57 and 48 percent, respectively, exemptions of COVID-19 restrictions for the agricultural sector limited the decline in agricultural GDP to 7 percent compared to a noCOVID situation. - During the lockdown period, the national poverty rate is estimated to have increased by 10.9 percentage points as 1.3 million people, mostly in rural areas, fell into temporary poverty. Poverty rates are expected to stabilize by the end of 2020, increasing only by between 0.4 and 1.1 percentage points. While these figures may be encouraging, they mask the impacts on poor households of the sharp poverty spike during the lockdown and the inherent complexity of poverty dynamics post-lockdown. Looking forward, the speed and success of Rwanda’s recovery will depend critically on the expansion of Rwanda’s social protection programs, boosting enterprises of all sizes, support to the agri-food system, and restoration of international trade.

Changing World Economic Order in the Post-Pandemic Period

Changing World Economic Order in the Post-Pandemic Period
Author: Mahapatra, Sushanta Kumar
Publisher: IGI Global
Total Pages: 325
Release: 2023-06-02
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1799868982
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Post COVID-19, the world will never be the same. The pandemic not only shattered many assumptions about economic developments and growth, but it also challenged our preparedness to face any unpredictable challenge as a human civilization in an era where science and technology is at its peak. To suppress the spread of COVID-19, many countries resorted to partial or full closure of their borders and restricted the movement of people. Mandatory quarantine restricted labor mobility and workplace closure, which later converted into supply shocks in the economy, as these measures impaired the economy’s production capacity, disrupting supplies. This later spilled over to the demand side as people were locked down in their homes and workers were laid off and lost income. This disruption posed many new challenges for policymakers to formulate appropriate macroeconomic policy responses and also provided them the opportunity to ponder upon the preparedness of countries in terms of health facilities, appropriately compensating human resources, how to cushion immediate and severe economic shocks, and how to maintain the livelihood of the society as a whole. Changing World Economic Order in the Post-Pandemic Period provides scientific knowledge of the current economic scenarios across the globe with a comprehensive overview of the pandemic and regional initiatives, trends of trade and development, and approaches to overcome obstacles of globalization and the impacts on global trade and economic development in light of the pandemic. The chapters present tangible solutions and attainable perspectives for fighting a battle against the pandemic while keeping the morale of the people and economy high. Highlighted topics include post-pandemic economic development, public policy in emergency situations, socio-economic impacts on enterprises, risk governance, and impacts of COVID-19. This book is ideally intended for university students, researchers, policymakers, economic actors, economists, practitioners, stakeholders, government officials, academicians, and anyone interested in the impact of a pandemic on the global economy and how to deal with such issues in the future.

2014 Global Hunger Index

2014 Global Hunger Index
Author: Saltzman, Amy
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Total Pages: 56
Release: 2014-10-13
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0896299589
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With one more year before the 2015 deadline for achieving the Millennium Development Goals, the 2014 Global Hunger Index report offers a multifaceted overview of global hunger that brings new insights to the global debate on where to focus efforts in the fight against hunger and malnutrition. The state of hunger in developing countries as a group has improved since 1990, falling by 39 percent, according to the 2014 GHI. Despite progress made, the level of hunger in the world is still “serious,” with 805 million people continuing to go hungry, according to estimates by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The global average obscures dramatic differences across regions and countries. Regionally, the highest GHI scores—and therefore the highest hunger levels—are in Africa south of the Sahara and South Asia, which have also experienced the greatest absolute improvements since 2005. South Asia saw the steepest absolute decline in GHI scores since 1990. Progress in addressing child underweight was the main factor behind the improved GHI score for the region since 1990.

The Future of Entrepreneurship in Africa

The Future of Entrepreneurship in Africa
Author: Anthony Abiodun Eniola
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 177
Release: 2022-12-30
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1000816621
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For many years, entrepreneurship has been considered as one of the most important solutions to the three-pronged challenges, poverty, unemployment and inequality, of most African countries. A recent development that has undoubtedly compounded the challenges that African entrepreneurs face and further impede the economic growth impact is Covid-19. This pandemic has exerted severe damage to economies and businesses globally. For the African setting, the implications of Covid-19 on businesses and individuals would be enormous, as African societies are rarely equipped to absorb unexpected shocks of this magnitude as the social and welfare schemes are far below requirements. This book illuminates entrepreneurship in the African setting, focusing on the prospects, challenges, and the post-Covid-19 pandemic future. It aims to offer a rich repository of information on strategies and techniques for sustaining entrepreneurial activities that can enrich African nations and will be of relevance to academics, researchers, advanced students, entrepreneurs, governments, and government agencies who are interested in understanding issues relating to entrepreneurship development within the African continent.

Global Economic Prospects, June 2020

Global Economic Prospects, June 2020
Author: World Bank Group
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 402
Release: 2020-07-07
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1464815801
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The COVID-19 pandemic has, with alarming speed, dealt a heavy blow to an already-weak global economy, which is expected to slide into its deepest recession since the second world war, despite unprecedented policy support. The global recession would be deeper if countries take longer to bring the pandemic under control, if financial stress triggers defaults, or if there are protracted effects on households and firms. Economic disruptions are likely to be more severe and protracted in emerging market and developing economies with larger domestic outbreaks and weaker medical care systems; greater exposure to international spillovers through trade, tourism, and commodity and financial markets; weaker macroeconomic frameworks; and more pervasive informality and poverty. Beyond the current steep economic contraction, the pandemic is likely to leave lasting scars on the global economy by undermining consumer and investor confidence, human capital, and global value chains. Being mostly a reflection of the recent plunge in global energy demand, low oil prices are unlikely to provide much of a boost to global growth in the near term. While policymakers' immediate priorities are to address the health crisis and moderate the short-term economic losses, the likely long-term consequences of the pandemic highlight the need to forcefully undertake comprehensive reform programs to improve the fundamental drivers of economic growth, once the crisis abates. Global Economic Prospects is a World Bank Group Flagship Report that examines global economic developments and prospects, with a special focus on emerging market and developing economies, on a semiannual basis (in January and June). The January edition includes in-depth analyses of topical policy challenges faced by these economies, while the June edition contains shorter analytical pieces.