Helping Developing Countries Manage the Covid-19 Pandemic and Foster a Strong, Sustainable, Inclusive and Green Recovery

Jul 19, 2026

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Statement by Angel Gurría to the 102nd Virtual Meeting of the Development Committee addresses how COVID-19 reverses development gains and undermines progress toward the 2030 Agenda and climate objectives. It highlights disproportionate impacts on the poorest and on fragile contexts, including constrained health systems, widespread informality, social protection gaps, food insecurity, and heightened risks for women. The statement also points to widening education and digital divides, data limitations, and dwindling resources, stressing the need for informed, resilient recovery.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages5

Reading Time13 min

AccessFree to download

COVID-19 impact on development goals

Poverty and fragile contexts

Economic disruption and sector effects

Health systems, informality, and social protection

Food insecurity

Gendered impacts and violence risks

Education gaps and digital divide

Data, statistics, and policymaking capacity

Financing constraints and recovery needs

Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE (Joint Ministerial Committee of the Boards of Governors ofthe Bank and the Fund on the Transfer of Real Resources to Developing Countries) ONE HUNDRED AND TWO MEETING WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 16, 2020 (VIRTUAL) DC/S/2020-0057 October 16, 2020 Statement by Angel Gurría Secretary-General OECD Statement by Angel Gurría, Secretary-General OECD 102nd Meeting of the Development Committee October 16, 2020 Washington, DC (VIRTUAL) Helping Developing Countries Manage the Covid-19 Pandemic and Foster a Strong, Sustainable, Inclusive and Green Recovery 1. COVID-19 is undermining years of development progress – significantly disrupting progress towards the 2030 Agenda and climate goals – and is hitting the world’s poorest and most vulnerable hardest. Approximately 71 million more people are expected to fall into extreme poverty in 2020, the first rise in global poverty since 1998 (UN Statistics Division, 2020) . Twenty-six million additional people living in areas on the OECD’s list of 57 fragile contexts will fall into extreme poverty by the end of 2020, in which 23% of the world’s population live (OECD, 2020) . For countries that are already suffering from violence and conflict, prospects of peace and stability have become more distant. 2. The economic activity of developing countries and emerging economies remains hampered – directly or indirectly – by the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in every region. Emerging Marketsand Developing Economies (EMDEs) are expected to face an economic recession in 2020 and could contract by 2.5% on average (OECD 2020) . The COVID-19 crisis is also severely affecting key oceanbased sectors in Small Island Developing States, such as tourism and shipping, with a halting effect on much of the global ocean economy (OECD, 2020) . 3. Underfunded health systems and high levels of informality constrain the ability of developing countries to respond to the health emergency, and risk exacerbating the social costs of the COVID- 19 pandemic. The outbreak has had a disproportionate effect on informal economy workers throughout the world, especially in developing countries where informal employment is rampant. Over half of the world’s population, or more than 4 billion people, have no or partial social protection coverage (OECD/ILO, 2019) 1. Nearly 40% of Latin-American workers, for instance, are not covered by any type of social safety net, making them particularly vulnerable in the face of the pandemic (OECD et al., 2020) .2 4. Food insecurity has severely affected populations, notably in the Sahel and West Africa (OECD, 2020) . Over 51 million people are at the precipice of a food crisis, due to the combined effects of insecurity and the consequences of sanitary measures, including confinement, market closures, and barriers to trade that have greatly disrupted food systems on which the vast majority of the West African population depends for wealth creation and employment. The economic contraction induced by these measures has led to lower incomes and less purchasing power. 1 OECD/ILO (2019), Tackling Vulnerability in the Informal Economy, Development Centre Studies, OECD Publishing, Paris, [https://doi.org/10.1787/939b7bcd-en](https://doi.org/10.1787/939b7bcd-en). 2 OECD et al. (2020), Latin American Economic Outlook 2020: Digital Transformation for Building Back Better, OECD Publishing, Paris, [https://doi.org/10.1787/e6e864fb-en](https://doi.org/10.1787/e6e864fb-en). 5. Women in developing countries are facing higher risks of job and income loss, in addition to increased incidence of violence, exploitation, abuse or harassment during the crisis and while in quarantine (OECD, 2020) . In addition, women’s unpaid workload has further increased, reducing the already scarce time potentially dedicated to paid activities (OECD, 2020b)3. 6. The COVID-19 crisis has also exac

FAQs

How does COVID-19 affect progress toward global development and climate goals?

COVID-19 significantly disrupts progress toward the 2030 Agenda and climate goals and is expected to push additional people into extreme poverty.

What barriers limit developing countries’ ability to respond to the health emergency?

Underfunded health systems and high informality constrain response capacity, while limited or partial social protection increases social costs and vulnerability.

Why is data capacity a challenge during the pandemic?

Major data gaps and limited statistical capacity make it harder to design, develop, and deliver effective responses; key high-frequency indicators are scattered and cause-of-death registration coverage is insufficient.

Jul 19, 2026

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