Today we’ve released a new paper titled: “Assessing the scope and adequacy of social protection responses to the COVID-19 crisis in the MENA region – a focus on tax-financed income transfers”.
This report – written by Daisy Sibun, Social Policy Officer at Development Pathways – is part of a working paper series called “Shifting the Paradigm”. In this report, Daisy analyses the scope and adequacy of 11 countries’ tax-financed social protection responses to the COVID-19 crisis. The countries considered in the analysis are: Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen.
The paper warns that if countries in the MENA region are going to be well-positioned to recover from the crisis and respond to shocks in the future, they will require a fundamental shift in their approach to social protection. It is essential that more inclusive lifecycle social protection systems are implemented, which offer social security to everyone, from the cradle to the grave.
Read the paper here
Update: An earlier version showed that Tunisia's emergency response covered 21.4% of its population at a cost of 0.12% of GDP, but this information has now been updated. According to available information, Tunisia's emergency response covered 36.4% of its population at a cost of 0.18% of GDP
