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Showing all Blog Posts in Covid 19
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Blog post
Africa Industrialization Week 2020: Industrial development, trade, and COVID-19
Following Africa Industrialization Week 2020, we take stock of trends in African industrialisation, as well as look at the ways that COVID-19 has disrupted industries, trade, and supply chains. Each year since 1990, African leaders, key stakeholders, and pan-African organisations meet on the 20th of November to celebrate Africa Industrialization Day (AID), which kicks off...
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Africa Industrialization Week 2020: Policies for the future
Accelerating economic transformation and industrialisation is vital to create jobs, raise incomes, and reduce poverty in Africa. Industrialisation and international trade are critical drivers of this process. Combined with recommendations from three industrialisation experts we spoke with, we propose three complementary policy recommendations in advancing these...
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Data for decision making in the COVID-19 crisis
The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented global crisis. For governments to respond effectively, policymakers need quality data on the prevalence of the virus and its various social and economic impacts. There are now at least 55 million confirmed COVID-19 cases across the world, with over a million deaths. While the world has probably not experienced a pandemic of this...
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Leaving no one behind: Vulnerable communities need smarter strategies to adapt to a changing climate future
The effects of climate change are felt more keenly by poor communities already facing the double burden of poverty and low development. Thus, climate change policies must be created keeping their unique vulnerabilities in mind and help them build resilience. In the first part of this blog series, we explored energy transition, market integration, and leveraging finance as...
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Not their burden alone: Global cooperation is key to helping developing countries mitigate climate shocks
Over the next decade, fast-growing developing nations will contribute to the bulk of the increase in energy consumption. However, the responsibility of adopting sustainable growth does not – and cannot – fall on them alone. A global shift towards more sustainable growth needs innovative and responsive policies that can only be implemented with international...
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Adopt an Enhanced Revenue Mobilisation System to increase IGFs
The economic disruptions of COVID-19 have put local government revenue in Ghana in a dire state. James Dzansi, IGC Country Economist in Ghana, argues that local governments must urgently adopt the digital Enhanced Revenue Management System to increase their capacities to deliver essential services to their citizens. The local governments must stand up to the challenge....
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Sierra Leone locked down early to contain COVID-19, but at a high price
Sierra Leone locked down early and appears to have COVID-19 under control. But the country has paid a very high economic price, with the vast majority of people missing meals or eating less. Researchers warn that if the virus begins to spread again, these sacrifices may be hard to justify and replicate. In the fight against COVID-19, we are in the same storm but in...
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For the urban poor, trade may be the only lifeline during a pandemic
Trade routes have been significantly disrupted with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. As formal firms reel under the consequent demand and supply shock, the urban poor engaging in informal trade with little social protection have been pushed further into the margins, and are struggling simply for survival. The outbreak of the plague in Surat, India in 1994 claimed...
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Devolve more power to cities: they will need it more than ever
Cities with devolved powers can react more quickly to the pandemic. But many don’t have the control they need to respond to shocks. Astrid R.N. Haas and Shahrukh Wani (International Growth Centre) argue that a reluctance by central governments to devolve power is holding them back. COVID-19, like every single pandemic in the last 30 years, started in a city and...
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Why we don’t know the real number of COVID-19 deaths in Africa
The number of COVID-19 deaths is surprisingly low in Africa. Could the 'excess deaths' on the continent be hiding a different reality? According to the African Centre for Disease Control, the total confirmed COVID-19 deaths for Africa has now reached over 41,200 – a staggeringly low number compared to the total deaths in other regions. Experts agree, however, that the...