The COVID-19 Impact on Livelihoods and Poverty in Sri Lanka : Background Note to Sri Lanka Poverty Assessment

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis has dealt a significant shock to Sri Lanka’s economy and people. This note examines the expected impact on poverty and inequality amid widespread job and earnings losses. While poverty was relatively low in Sri Lan...

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Main Author: World Bank
Format: Report
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/724391618996958268/Background-Note-to-Sri-Lanka
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35496
id okr-10986-35496
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-354962021-06-14T09:54:51Z The COVID-19 Impact on Livelihoods and Poverty in Sri Lanka : Background Note to Sri Lanka Poverty Assessment World Bank CORONAVIRUS COVID-19 POVERTY ASSESSMENT LIVELIHOODS LABOR MARKET PANDEMIC IMPACT ECONOMIC SHOCK SAFETY NETS INFORMALITY VULNERABILITY DISTRIBUTIONAL IMPACT POVERTY MEASUREMENT The Coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis has dealt a significant shock to Sri Lanka’s economy and people. This note examines the expected impact on poverty and inequality amid widespread job and earnings losses. While poverty was relatively low in Sri Lanka prior to the pandemic, pre-existing vulnerabilities were high, partly owing to high levels of informality. Many workers do not have access to employment protection or other job-related social protection benefits, making them vulnerable during times of economic crisis. Livelihoods support programs and various relief measures implemented by the government over the course of the pandemic are expected to have mitigated the labor market shock. Inequality is expected to increase in the short run because of the unequal distribution of the shock. Moreover, reduced social mobility as a consequence of widening disparities in access to education for example could increase inequality in the long term. Policy measures could aim to strike a balance between those that support a resilient recovery and those that aim to include the most vulnerable in the recovery process. Achieving this balance will help reverse the impact of the pandemic and mitigate its consequences for inequality. Shifting toward a more adaptive social protection system would allow much needed support to be scaled up quickly and effectively in times of crisis. 2021-04-26T15:30:40Z 2021-04-26T15:30:40Z 2021 Report http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/724391618996958268/Background-Note-to-Sri-Lanka http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35496 English CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Economic & Sector Work Economic & Sector Work :: Poverty Assessment South Asia Sri Lanka
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic CORONAVIRUS
COVID-19
POVERTY ASSESSMENT
LIVELIHOODS
LABOR MARKET
PANDEMIC IMPACT
ECONOMIC SHOCK
SAFETY NETS
INFORMALITY
VULNERABILITY
DISTRIBUTIONAL IMPACT
POVERTY MEASUREMENT
spellingShingle CORONAVIRUS
COVID-19
POVERTY ASSESSMENT
LIVELIHOODS
LABOR MARKET
PANDEMIC IMPACT
ECONOMIC SHOCK
SAFETY NETS
INFORMALITY
VULNERABILITY
DISTRIBUTIONAL IMPACT
POVERTY MEASUREMENT
World Bank
The COVID-19 Impact on Livelihoods and Poverty in Sri Lanka : Background Note to Sri Lanka Poverty Assessment
geographic_facet South Asia
Sri Lanka
description The Coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis has dealt a significant shock to Sri Lanka’s economy and people. This note examines the expected impact on poverty and inequality amid widespread job and earnings losses. While poverty was relatively low in Sri Lanka prior to the pandemic, pre-existing vulnerabilities were high, partly owing to high levels of informality. Many workers do not have access to employment protection or other job-related social protection benefits, making them vulnerable during times of economic crisis. Livelihoods support programs and various relief measures implemented by the government over the course of the pandemic are expected to have mitigated the labor market shock. Inequality is expected to increase in the short run because of the unequal distribution of the shock. Moreover, reduced social mobility as a consequence of widening disparities in access to education for example could increase inequality in the long term. Policy measures could aim to strike a balance between those that support a resilient recovery and those that aim to include the most vulnerable in the recovery process. Achieving this balance will help reverse the impact of the pandemic and mitigate its consequences for inequality. Shifting toward a more adaptive social protection system would allow much needed support to be scaled up quickly and effectively in times of crisis.
format Report
author World Bank
author_facet World Bank
author_sort World Bank
title The COVID-19 Impact on Livelihoods and Poverty in Sri Lanka : Background Note to Sri Lanka Poverty Assessment
title_short The COVID-19 Impact on Livelihoods and Poverty in Sri Lanka : Background Note to Sri Lanka Poverty Assessment
title_full The COVID-19 Impact on Livelihoods and Poverty in Sri Lanka : Background Note to Sri Lanka Poverty Assessment
title_fullStr The COVID-19 Impact on Livelihoods and Poverty in Sri Lanka : Background Note to Sri Lanka Poverty Assessment
title_full_unstemmed The COVID-19 Impact on Livelihoods and Poverty in Sri Lanka : Background Note to Sri Lanka Poverty Assessment
title_sort covid-19 impact on livelihoods and poverty in sri lanka : background note to sri lanka poverty assessment
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2021
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/724391618996958268/Background-Note-to-Sri-Lanka
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35496
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