Publications

The IMF’s concessional support for low-income countries (LICs) is provided primarily through the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT). Since the start of the pandemic, lending from the PRGT has risen very sharply in response to the unprecedented and urgent needs of LICs; total PRGT credit outstanding nearly doubled during 2020 to far exceed past peaks. This note considers possible financing sources, taking into account legal, political, and practical constraints including the timeliness with which different resources could be mobilized.

The pandemic, people’s response to fend off contagion, and the measures designed to contain the spread of the virus took an enormous toll on the region’s living standards. Governments faced the challenge of reaching three groups of people: formal sector workers in social security (and their dependents), recipients of existing non-contributory cash transfer programs and their dependents, and finally, households whose members were reliant on labor income from the informal sector and were part of neither social protection system.

GPE’s unique selling point is its single-minded focus on basic education, and its fairly streamlined, no-strings-attached approach to funding poor countries’ own education plans. But is GPE the best channel for education aid?

This note looks at cumulative historical emissions but adds two adjustments to quantify countries’ liability for climate damage. First, we use recent thinking on carbon prices to cost emissions. Second, we allow that cost to fall for historic emissions and include a cut-off to reflect the rising certainty of climate damage.

In the context of an ongoing debate around the role of aid in middle income countries, it is worth revisiting the discussion around aid allocation in general.

Global e-commerce sales surged to US$25.6 trillion in 2018, up 8 percent from 2017. Leading the way are China (US$1.5 trillion), the United States (US$600 billion), and the United Kingdom (US$135 billion) holding the top three spots respectively. Yet Africa, with 17 percent of the world’s population, still lags behind both in e-commerce sales and the use of mobile money for online purchases. Why is this a problem?

This study draws on a randomly assigned pilot of a community implemented cash transfer program targeted to households with low socioeconomic status in Tanzania to examine the educational impacts of cash transfers for children facing different challenges. We find that on average, being assigned to receive cash transfers significantly boosts children’s school participation and primary completion rates. But we provide suggestive evidence that these gains are unequally distributed across children.

This policy paper, part of the “Let Them Work” initiative, outlines how the Government of Peru, donors, international organizations, and NGOs can address and overcome these barriers and promote economic inclusion.