pandemic
WB okays $250 million for Bangladesh to respond to COVID-19 pandemic
World Bank has approved $250 million to help Bangladesh create more and inclusive jobs and effectively respond to the COVID-19 pandemic for a faster recovery and stronger resilience to future crises.
The Third Programmatic Jobs Development Policy Credit—the last in a series of three credits— is supporting the government of Bangladesh to develop a stronger policy and institutional framework to modernize the trade and investment regime; improve social protection for workers; and help youth, women and vulnerable population access quality jobs, according to a release from World Bank.
Read WB approves $500 mn to help Bangladesh vaccinate 54 mn people
It will also support informal micro-entrepreneurs in recovering from the shock by extending micro-finance facilities.
Overall, it will support government programs to protect over 5 million jobs as part of the government’s near-term response to the crisis, while laying the groundwork to accelerate recovery and build resilience.
This program will also help streamline business and investment services, reducing the cost of starting a business. Further, it supports reforms to align the skills development sector with labor-market demands.
Also read: World Bank prediction on Bangladesh economy inconsistent: Finance Minister
“Job creation remains central to Bangladesh’s development objectives. While Bangladesh has had strong economic growth in recent years, the pace of job creation has slowed, especially in the manufacturing sector. The COVID-19 pandemic increased the challenges, and the poor and women were hardest hit,” World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh and Bhutan Mercy Tembon said.
She said that this financing will help Bangladesh create more and better jobs and expand support for both formal and informal workers affected by COVID-19 crisis.
Read WB approves $200 million to help Dhaka support urban poor, migrants
This financing will support the government in its efforts to protect the earnings of workers affected by the COVID-19 crisis and enable firms to continue paying their workers’ wages.
“Although income and job losses due to the pandemic impacted people from all walks of life, women are most at risk of exiting the job market,” World Bank Lead Economist and Task Team Leader for the Project Aline Coudouel said.
He said that this series of programs promoted quality daycare for children in a bid to bring more women to the job market and supported actions to create a more inclusive labor market, for women, youth, and migrants.
Also read: COVID-19 might leave adverse impact on Indian economy: World Bank report
With this program, the total World Bank’s financing to the Programmatic Jobs Development Policy Credit series stands at $750 million.
The credit is from the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), which provides concessional financing, has a 30-year term, including a five-year grace period. Bangladesh currently has the largest ongoing IDA program totaling over $14 billion.
Read Bangladesh to gain from seamless transport connectivity with India: WB
PM Hasina leads from front in battle against pandemic: Envoy
Overcoming the disruptions caused by the pandemic, particularly in women’s economic empowerment, will require strong and visionary leadership, and a whole of society approach towards inclusive and resilient recovery, said a Bangladesh envoy posted at the UN.
Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations in New York Ambassador Rabab Fatima made the statement while speaking at a side event on “Women's Economic Empowerment: Good Practices in Covid-19 Response and Recovery” organised as part of the 65th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women virtually on Wednesday.
“We’re fortunate to have Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina lead us from the front in this battle against the pandemic,” she said.
The event was jointly organised by the Permanent Missions of Bangladesh, El Salvador and Rwanda to the UN and the International Trade Centre.
It gathered women entrepreneurs from three cross-regional countries who shared their experiences of resilient recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Also read; Don’t let Covid-19 reverse achievements in women empowerment: PM
Apart from the Bangladesh Ambassador, the Permanent Representative of El Salvador Ambassador Egriselda López and the Permanent Representative of Rwanda Ambassador Valentine Rugwabiza presented various recovery initiatives and stimulus measures announced by their respective governments targeting the women. ITC’s New York representative moderated the panel discussion.
Referring to the compounded economic impacts of the pandemic on women globally, Ambassador Fatima underscored that pandemic response and recovery efforts must take women’s particular vulnerability into account.
Also read; Icons of women's empowerment recognised in Anannya's Top 10 Awards 2019
She also stressed that women must be able to play an equal and effective role in the efforts to help societies build back better.
Ambassador Rabab Fatima said recognising the disproportionate impact of Covid on women, including those employed in the informal and service sectors, RMG workers and returnee women migrant workers, the Bangladesh government has announced stimulus packages and targeted support measures.
“We’ve also announced interest and mortgage-free loans for women entrepreneurs, and providing skill development projects in all districts in an effort to support women to recover from job and income losses, including through re-skilling training, alternative livelihood opportunities, and facilitating their access to digital economy” she added.
Ambassador Rabab Fatima acknowledged the role and contributions of Bangladesh’s private sector, civil society and media in this regard.
Kohinoor Yeasmin, CEO of Tarango, participated in the event as a panelist and shared how her organisation sustained its business despite the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown through home-based production and digital marketing.
She also recognised how the government funded financial packages helped her pay the salaries to the workers during the lockdown.
Global Covid cases rise for fourth straight week
Covid-19 cases continued to rise around the world for a fourth week in a row, with around 3.3 million new cases reported in the past one week, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday.
The number of new deaths from the coronavirus levelled off after a six-week decrease, with just over 60,000 new deaths reported.
Europe and the Americas continued to account for nearly eight in 10 of all cases and deaths, while the only region to report a decline in fatalities was the Western Pacific, down nearly a third, compared to the previous week.
Read Covid-19: Bangladesh reports highest daily cases in 9 months
No region untouched
Infections rose notably in South East Asia, the Western Pacific, Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean, according to the World Health Organization’s weekly epidemiological update.
In the African region and the Americas, infection numbers have remained stable in recent weeks, although WHO pointed to “concerning trends” in some countries within these regions.
These include Brazil, where the highest numbers of new cases were reported (508,010 new cases in a week, representing a three percent increase)
Also read: Virus variants, vaccine inequity responsible for rising Covid caseload: WHO
The United States saw 374,369 new cases --a 19 percent decrease -- while India saw 240,082 new cases, a 62 percent increase. France saw 204,840 new cases (up 27 percent) and Italy saw little change, with a recorded 154,493 new cases.
Variants of concern
WHO said that latest data on coronavirus variants of concern, indicate that the so-called “UK” strain is present in 125 countries, across all six global regions.
This variant - VOC202012/01 - may be associated with an increased risk of hospitalisation, severity and mortality, WHO noted, pointing to a study involving 55,000 Covif-19 patients between last October and January, where deaths from the UK variant were 4.1 per 1,000, compared with 2.5 per 1,000 among those infected with the previously circulating coronavirus.
Also read: COVID infections drop 16% worldwide in one week: WHO
Vaccine efficacy
On a more positive note, data from vaccine tests conducted in England from December 2020 to February 2021 -- when VOC202012/01 was very prevalent -- “showed the early real-world effectiveness of the Pfizer/BioNTech's BNT162b2 vaccine and AstraZeneca's ChAdOx1 vaccine against confirmed Covid-19, hospitalisations and deaths”, WHO explained.
Variant 501Y.V2 predominant
The so-called “South African” variant -- 501Y.V2 -- is now present in 75 countries across all regions, WHO continued, in “over 90 percent of sequenced specimens in some settings”.
Highlighting the results of a study comparing hospital admissions in South Africa during the peak of the first wave of the coronavirus in mid-July 2020 with the second wave that peaked in January 2021 --when variant 501Y.V2 was the predominant variant -- WHO pointed out that “the risk of in-hospital mortality increased by 20 percent”.
Read Global Covid-19 cases top 125 million
Third variant of concern
The third variant of concern, P.1, was reported in three additional countries in the last week, bringing the total to 41 nations across all regions.
WHO cited a recent analysis of hospitalisations and frequency of P.1 in Manaus city, Amazonas state, Brazil, where it was first detected, noting that it has spread widely.
Read Sachin Tendulkar tests positive for Covid-19
“Based on the preliminary findings, P.1 is found to be 2.5 times more transmissible … compared to the previously circulating variant, while the reinfection probability was found to be low (at) 6.4 percent.”
Globally, on 23 March, there have been 123,419,065 confirmed cases of Covid-19, including 2,719,163 deaths, reported to WHO.
As of 22 March 2021, a total of 403,269,879 vaccine doses have been administered.
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