Dear BoP Global Network member,
As 2021 advances, we have concluded that our struggle with COVID-19 is a marathon, rather than a sprint. The coronavirus pandemic has reached almost every country in the world. Its spread has continued to hit economies and businesses this year.
The economic impact of the virus so far shows big shifts in stock markets, with effects on all the economic structure. The disease mitigation measures have led to unemployment, a significant reduction in income, and disruptions in public services.
According to the World Bank, businesses in developing countries were especially hit, with revenues down 70% at the peak of the crisis, compared to only 45% in OECD countries. Even if the vaccines campaigns are taking place, we know now that outbreaks are not likely to disappear in the near future.
With that scenario, the COVID-19 pandemic proposes an alert message to intensify cooperation and look for alternative solutions in the BoP sector to manage the immediate and long-term consequences of the pandemic.
Precisely, more cooperation is what the BoP Global Network's members value the most from this initiative. This is one of the results of the Survey about the BoP Global Network activity you kindly contributed to, which we are sharing in this newsletter.
As usual, we also share an overview of the BoP sector updates, including news, events and interesting resources from different regions of the world.
Finally, we present some of the ongoing opportunities we can apply for as a network.
Cheers,
The GlobalCAD BoP Communication Team
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