By James Orji
World Bank President, David Malpass has disclosed that 100 million people were pushed into extreme poverty as a result of the COVID 19 pandemic.
Malpass made the assertion on the crest of the approval of $400 million, for the federal government for the purchase and production of COVID 19 vaccine in the country.
“Government of Nigeria today received approval from The World Bank Board of Directors for a $400 million credit in additional financing from the International Development Association (IDA)* to provide upfront financing for safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine acquisition and deployment within the country. This will be implemented as part of the COVID-19 Preparedness and Response Project,”
“Building on the Government’s plan to break the chain of local transmission of COVID-19 and limit the spread of the virus, the original COVID-19 Response program will be expanded to enable equitable access to purchase affordable COVID-19 vaccines for 18 percent (40 million) of Nigeria’s population and support effective vaccine deployment to 50 percent (110 million) of its citizens,” Mansir Nasir, Senior External Affairs Officer said in a statement on Friday.
The viral disease first broke in December 2020 and has killed close to 5 million people globally, amidst concerted efforts to contain its spread.
Major steps adopted by the international community to contain the spread of the disease include economic shutdown which had led to job loses across the continents with attendant poverty in mostly poor countries.
The situation has not ameliorated the global bank president said, adding that the world has experienced a serious set-back as a result of the pandemic after making progress in tackling poverty in the past decade.
According to him, “The COVID-19 crisis has resulted in increased poverty rates again after decades of steady decline. It has pushed nearly 100 million people into extreme poverty, with several hundred million more becoming poor, many of them in middle-income countries.
“As of mid-2021, over half of IDA countries, the world’s poorest countries, are in external debt distress or at high risk of it.”
He cited increase in the cost of essential commodities, high interest rates and rising debt of developing countries as major causes of global poverty.
Malpass said “This situation could worsen if commodity prices are volatile, interest rates increase, or investors lose confidence in emerging markets.
“This is also a time for proactive debt management to reprofile payments while international interest rates remain low.
“In many places around the world, poverty is rising, living standards and literacy rates are falling, and past gains on gender equality, nutrition and health are sliding backwards.
“For some countries, the debt burden was unsustainable before the crisis and is getting worse. Rather than gaining ground, the poor are being left behind in a global tragedy of inequality.”
Malpass said giving cash transfer to the extremely poor and investment in critical infrastructure will help to bridge the poverty gap.
“Supporting this transformation requires many actions at scale: investing in digital infrastructure, eliminating monopolies in the telecom sector, providing national IDs, and creating an enabling regulatory environment.”
“The digital revolution can also transform the public sector. For example, it allows a radical rethink of safety nets systems.
“Across the world, we are seeing programmes move from in-kind and cash delivery to digital delivery, direct to people’s bank accounts or visible on their phones,” the World Bank boss said.
