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This note brings together current thinking among global and regional teams on governance and institutional approaches to dealing with COVID-19. With a focus on tax policy and revenue administrations, it presents governance and institutional reforms that could support revenue administration responses to the pandemic.1 COVID-19 has brought about a new normal in which work practices should change. Shocks usually trigger responses, and a productive response here will be to automate tax and customs services over the medium term and to massively accelerate the use of digital and virtual technologies.

Coronavirus --- COVID-19 --- Economic Recovery --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Public Sector Development --- Tax Administration --- Tax Policy --- Taxation and Subsidies

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China's recovery has broadened as economic activity has continued to normalize. Economic growth in China is projected to reach 8.5 percent this year before slowing to 5.4 percent in 2022, as low base effects dissipate and the economy returns to trend growth. As China's recovery firms up, macroeconomic policies are expected to shift from accommodative to more neutral settings. The pace of policy normalization, however, should continue to be data-dependent and calibrated to the strength of the recovery in China and the rest of the world. Rising financial vulnerabilities, together with subdued productivity growth and persistent imbalances in the structure of aggregate demand, pose medium-term challenges that require attention. Macroeconomic policies and structural reforms should aim at reinvigorating the shift to more balanced high-quality growth.

Economic Growth --- Economic Recovery --- Fiscal and Monetary Policy --- Inequality --- Labor Market --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Poverty Reduction --- Social Protections and Labor

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As the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic enters its second year, foreign investors can see light at the end of the tunnel as economic conditions improve. Results from the latest round (Q1 2021) of World Bank Group's quarterly pulse surveys of Multinational Enterprise (MNE) affiliates suggests that most firms are still operating below full capacity. The pandemic's adverse effects on MNEs in developing countries continued to ease in the first quarter of 2021 (Q1 2021). Impacts remained widespread with 93 percent experiencing at least one adverse impact, but fewer firms report negative demand, output, revenue, and profit impacts (relative to Q1 2020) than in prior survey rounds. The average magnitude of these impacts was also more limited and continued to ease from Q4 2020. The longer-term outlook for foreign investment in developing countries remains subdued. Overall, 92 percent of firms report that their foreign parent had no plans to change (increase or decrease) the company's level of investment over the next 1-3 years. Uncertainty about future demand is the key factor holding investment back, but policy and regulatory restrictions are also a factor for almost half of firms. Survey results confirmed that almost all MNE affiliates have increased their adoption of digital technologies for remote working, e-commerce, and supply chain management in response to the pandemic. Half of MNE affiliates also report increasing their focus on sustainability and decarbonization of products and services, with foreign parent companies again playing a critical role. While these survey results may not be generalizable to all developing countries, they are directionally indicative of MNEs' experiences in developing countries.

Business Cycles and Stabilization Policies --- Coronavirus --- COVID-19 --- Economic Recovery --- Foreign Direct Investment --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Private Sector Development --- Private Sector Economics

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The Coronavirus(COVID-19) pandemic has had strong adverse impacts on the private sector in low- and middle-income countries. The future course of the pandemic remains highly uncertain, so consideration of alternative scenarios may be more helpful in assessing investment opportunities and designing policy responses. Based on private sector responses to the pandemic shock, and lessons learned from previous exogeneous shocks, this paper outlines two alternative scenarios for private enterprise during the recovery phase. The scenarios consider a stronger as well as a weaker global economic recovery, and both of these are based on the information available as of end-June 2021. Thus, the scenarios do not discuss developments that have taken place since June 30, which include the emergence of the Delta variant of Coronavirus (COVID-19), and the evolution of vaccine deployment around the world.

Business Cycles and Stabilization Policies --- Business Environment --- Economic Growth --- Economic Recovery --- Investment Climate --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Private Sector Development --- Private Sector Economics

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World Bank Group President David Malpass spoke about the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has taken a toll on African lives, economies, and livelihoods. The World Bank intends to invest and mobilize about USD 150 billion over the next five years in Africa to support the continent's recovery from the pandemic and its long-term development. He urged countries that expect to have excess vaccine supplies to release their excess as soon as possible to developing countries that have delivery programs in place. He emphasized the need for greater transparency in contracts between governments, pharmaceutical companies, and organizations that are involved in vaccine production and delivery so that financing can be directed effectively, and countries can plan for receipt and deployment. The World Bank yesterday launched a comprehensive online portal that provides easy access to information about their projects, including individual country-financing operations. He spoke about comprehensive debt solutions which will involve at least four elements: debt suspension, debt reduction, debt resolution, and debt transparency. He stated that without private creditors fully onboard, the Common Framework will not deliver a sustainable solution for Chad, Ethiopia, or Zambia. As countries work to recover, tackling climate change will be key for the region. The Bank is also working to address fragility, conflict, and violence. He concluded that while we know that the road to recovery will be long, countries in the region have applied lessons from previous crisis such as the West Africa Ebola outbreak in 2014, and many countries have strengthened their social safety nets to help protect the poor that have been most affected by the crisis, and to move faster on key reforms and investments that will be crucial for long-term development.

Business Cycles and Stabilization Policies --- Climate Change --- Climate Change Mitigation and Green House Gases --- Disease Control and Prevention --- Economic Growth --- Economic Recovery --- Environment --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Health, Nutrition and Population --- Inequality --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Poverty Reduction