The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic could push over 500 million people into poverty, says a new report by charity organization, Oxfam. In the report titled, “Dignity Not Destitution”, Oxfam urged world leaders to agree an economic rescue package to keep poor countries afloat, ahead of key meetings of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and G20 Finance Ministers’ next week.
The new report suggests between six and eight per cent of the global population could be forced into poverty as governments shut down entire economies to manage the spread of the virus.
“This could set back the fight against poverty by a decade and as much as 30 years in some regions such as sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East and North Africa. Over half the global population could be living in poverty in the aftermath of the pandemic,” the report says.
The analysis, published Thursday by the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research, was conducted by researchers at King’s College London and the Australian National University. According to the report, the emergency rescue package would help poor countries to provide cash grants to people who have lost their income and also bail out vulnerable small businesses. This, it says, would be paid for through a variety of measures including the immediate cancellation of US$1 trillion worth of developing country debt payments in 2020.
Speaking on the report, Oxfam International Interim Executive Director, Jose Maria Vera, said: “Cancelling Ghana’s external debt payments in 2020 would enable the government to give a cash grant of $20 dollars a month to each of the country’s 16 million children, disabled and elderly people for a period of six months.
“For poor people in poor countries who are already struggling to survive, there are almost no safety nets to stop them falling into poverty. G20 Finance Ministers, the IMF and World Bank must give developing countries an immediate cash injection, to help them bail out poor and vulnerable communities. They must cancel all developing country debt payments for 2020 and encourage other creditors to do the same, and issue at least US$ US$1 trillion of Special Drawing Rights.”
Also, Save the Children, a non-governmental organisation, warned that the large number of vulnerable children in Africa, whose parents’ incomes are from the informal sector, could jeopardise the fight against COVID-19. Eric Hazard, Save the Children’s Campaign and Advocacy Director for Africa, made the observation in a statement issued in Abuja yesterday. He said though significant efforts had been made by African governments to respond to the pandemic, the number of cases had increased since March 13.
“With South Sudan, the latest country on the continent to confirm a case on Sunday, there remains just three African countries – Lesotho, Comoros and Sao Tome and Principe – who have yet to report a case of COVID-19. Governments in the region are focusing on limiting the spread of the COVID-19 with increased restrictions, however, these measures disproportionately impact the poorest households that depend on the informal economy for livelihood.
“Across the continent, unlike in many parts of the world, social security coverage in Africa is extremely limited or non-existent and largely confined to workers in the formal economy and their families.” Hazard said the organisation had therefore inaugurated a $100 million fund raising, to keep children and their families safe during the global COVID-19 outbreak.