Finance & Economics | WPN World People News

Shoppers at a market in the Libyan capital Tripoli.

The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved a US$5.5 million operation for Tonga to strengthen public financial management, enhance Tonga’s resilience to the effects of climate change, and improve access to skills training and both domestic and international labor opportunities.

The COVID-19 pandemic is not only a health crisis, but it is also proving to be an economic disaster for huge numbers of people worldwide. A senior UN official with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) is calling for countries to provide citizens with a universal basic income, to help the millions who have lost their jobs, because of measures to curb the virus, combined with increasing levels of inequality.

Some 1.6 billion people employed in the informal economy – or nearly half the global workforce - could see their livelihoods destroyed due to the continued decline in working hours brought on by lockdowns to curb the spread of COVID-19, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said on Wednesday.

Poverty reduction in Ethiopia continued despite adverse climatic conditions, with the share of the population below the national poverty line decreasing from 30% in 2010/11 to 24% in 2015/16, according to a new World Bank Group poverty assessment. Though the report, Ethiopia Poverty Assessment - Harnessing Continued Growth for Accelerated Poverty Reduction, was finalized before the current COVID-19 (coronavirus) crisis, its results can inform the design of interventions to cushion the impact of the pandemic on low-income households.

1.The Development Committee met virtually on April 17, 2020.

2. Our meeting occurred at a time of unprecedented challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Its devastating effects are being felt across the globe as the human and economic toll continues to rise. We express our sympathy to those affected and offer our support and solidarity to those working on the front lines fighting the pandemic.

Bangladesh Red Crescent Society's staff and volunteers promote hand washing, spray disinfectant and provide emergency food, to fight against COVID-19.

A man beating a bush with a stick to show desert locusts swarming near Fada, Chad. FAO toolbox shows how prevention, early warning and preparedness can help control desert locust and other transboundary threats.

Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa has been significantly impacted by the ongoing coronavirus outbreak and is forecast to fall sharply from 2.4% in 2019 to -2.1 to -5.1% in 2020, the first recession in the region over the past 25 years, according to the latest Africa’s Pulse, the World Bank’s twice-yearly economic update for the region.

Nurses and healthcare workers outside at a hospital in New York City demand better protection against the COVID-19 virus.