KHALIDA BOUZAR: THE WORLD IS FACING AN UNPRECEDENTED CHALLENGE; WE ARE BATTLING AGAINST TIME
It has been three weeks since COVID-19 has drastically altered the daily lives of IFAD staff headquartered in Rome and stationed around the world. Scientists and governments around the world agree that one of the ways we can stop the virus from spreading is physical distancing. Yet the distancing measures needed to contain the coronavirus outbreak are slowing down the world’s economic engine, and this will have a tremendous impact on the global economy, with the most fragile countries and most vulnerable populations paying the highest toll. In a world that is slowing down, poverty will accelerate, and hunger will follow. In the Arab world alone, ESCWA forecasts that as a direct result of the outbreak, the number of poor will increase by 8.3 million, no less than 1.7 million jobs will be lost in 2020, water will become scarcer – and hunger might consequently take more lives than the virus. In a world that is slowing down, our commitment is increasing... The whole of IFAD’s Near East,...