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UNDP Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean COVID-19 Response Programme Update
UNDP Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean COVID-19 Response Programme Update
July 24, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented shifts across the globe. Governments of the Caribbean have been actively deploying national responses to the threat of this deadly virus in the context of already challenged fiscal realities, physical infrastructure and service delivery systems. As these countries’ economies are not sufficiently diversified and rely on tourism, foreign direct investment and trade for their growth, the massive slow-down in output and imports will amplify the first order effects of the disease in the region. The pandemic’s combined impact is therefore likely to not only be widespread, affecting virtually all aspects of the economies, but to continue well after the population has recovered from the physical health symptoms of the disease. In the case of most countries in the Eastern Caribbean, the impact of the virus will reinforce existing social and economic vulnerabilities, inequalities and risks.