Mali Economic Update, Spring 2021 : Protecting the Vulnerable during the Recovery
The twin shocks of the pandemic and the coup pushed the economy into a recession in 2020. Real GDP is estimated to contract by 2.0 percent (4.9 percent in per capita terms) in 2020. The containment measures from mid-March to early May 2020 hampered...
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| Format: | Report |
| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2021
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/608701628112019671/Mali-Economic-Update-Protecting-the-Vulnerable-during-the-Recovery-Spring-2021 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36063 |
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okr-10986-36063 |
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oai_dc |
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Digital Repository |
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Foreign Institution |
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Digital Repositories |
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World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
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World Bank |
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English |
| topic |
ECONOMIC GROWTH ECONOMIC OUTLOOK POVERTY CORONAVIRUS COVID-19 PANDEMIC IMPACT PUBLIC FINANCE PUBLIC EXPENDITURE PANDEMIC RESPONSE PUBLIC FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT SPENDING EFFICIENCY EDUCATION EXPENDITURE HEALTH EXPENDITURE FISCAL TRENDS |
| spellingShingle |
ECONOMIC GROWTH ECONOMIC OUTLOOK POVERTY CORONAVIRUS COVID-19 PANDEMIC IMPACT PUBLIC FINANCE PUBLIC EXPENDITURE PANDEMIC RESPONSE PUBLIC FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT SPENDING EFFICIENCY EDUCATION EXPENDITURE HEALTH EXPENDITURE FISCAL TRENDS World Bank Mali Economic Update, Spring 2021 : Protecting the Vulnerable during the Recovery |
| geographic_facet |
Africa Africa Western and Central (AFW) Mali |
| description |
The twin shocks of the pandemic and the
coup pushed the economy into a recession in 2020. Real GDP
is estimated to contract by 2.0 percent (4.9 percent in per
capita terms) in 2020. The containment measures from
mid-March to early May 2020 hampered economic activity in
the sectors that source critical imports from abroad, depend
on international traveling and those more reliant on
face-to-face interactions for service delivery. On the
demand side, private consumption declined, due to lower
remittance inflows, households’ response to the health
hazard, and containment measures. Non-priority public
investment was curtailed to accommodate COVID-related
expenditures, and donor disengagement after the military
coup. Inflation picked up in May and continued to rise due
to low cereal output and supply chain disruptions. The
fiscal deficit increased to 5.5 percent of GDP in 2020. The
pandemic’s economic toll and the slowdown in international
trade slowed domestic revenues. Authorities responded with
an ambitious COVID-19 emergency response plan (2.3 percent
of GDP). Therefore, both the spending increases, and revenue
shortfalls contributed to a higher fiscal deficit.
Meanwhile, external support from international communities
were delayed after the military coup. Public debt
subsequently increased to 44.1 percent of GDP.
Notwithstanding this increase, Mali remained at moderate
risk of debt stress with some space toabsorb shocks (joint
IMF/World Bank Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA), February
2020). The crisis offers an opportunity to build back
educational systems stronger and more equitable than before.
As rules around social distancing are gradually relaxed,
systems need to ensure that schools reopen safely, student
dropout is minimized, and learning recovery starts. An
immediate policy option to focus on is the development and
implementation of remedial education, accelerated learning
programs, and revision of the academic calendar and
examination schedules to allow effective school continuity
particularly in poor and conflict areas. Medium-term
policies in the aftermath of the pandemic will be the: (i)
enhancement of the immediately established remote learning
platforms within the ministry of national education and (ii)
development of digital teaching content for each education
level in full alignment with the existing curricula. Longer
term policies would be to establish a virtual library with
an inventory of national and international teaching
resources to be used for remote learning programs to be
delivered through existing channels (radio, television,
mobile phone, and internet). These policies would make the
country resilient to future disruptions. Given limited
resources, policy prioritization, effective implementation
should be emphasized and in line with a general framework of
medium-term fiscal consolidation. A COVID-19 response plan
was put in place in April 2020, with an uneven level of
implementation. Lessons should be learnt with improved
oversight of COVID-19 fund execution. Meanwhile, the
enduring structural deficit and increasing resort to
domestic short-term financing add to the risks on fiscal
sustainability, which is further aggravated by the 2020 twin
crises. The broad direction for fiscal policy changes points
to the need to mobilize more domestic revenue and reform
public spending to increase the fiscal space for higher
quality services and investments, while reducing the overall deficit. |
| format |
Report |
| author |
World Bank |
| author_facet |
World Bank |
| author_sort |
World Bank |
| title |
Mali Economic Update, Spring 2021 : Protecting the Vulnerable during the Recovery |
| title_short |
Mali Economic Update, Spring 2021 : Protecting the Vulnerable during the Recovery |
| title_full |
Mali Economic Update, Spring 2021 : Protecting the Vulnerable during the Recovery |
| title_fullStr |
Mali Economic Update, Spring 2021 : Protecting the Vulnerable during the Recovery |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Mali Economic Update, Spring 2021 : Protecting the Vulnerable during the Recovery |
| title_sort |
mali economic update, spring 2021 : protecting the vulnerable during the recovery |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2021 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/608701628112019671/Mali-Economic-Update-Protecting-the-Vulnerable-during-the-Recovery-Spring-2021 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36063 |
| _version_ |
1764484351019450368 |
| spelling |
okr-10986-360632021-09-14T18:11:01Z Mali Economic Update, Spring 2021 : Protecting the Vulnerable during the Recovery World Bank ECONOMIC GROWTH ECONOMIC OUTLOOK POVERTY CORONAVIRUS COVID-19 PANDEMIC IMPACT PUBLIC FINANCE PUBLIC EXPENDITURE PANDEMIC RESPONSE PUBLIC FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT SPENDING EFFICIENCY EDUCATION EXPENDITURE HEALTH EXPENDITURE FISCAL TRENDS The twin shocks of the pandemic and the coup pushed the economy into a recession in 2020. Real GDP is estimated to contract by 2.0 percent (4.9 percent in per capita terms) in 2020. The containment measures from mid-March to early May 2020 hampered economic activity in the sectors that source critical imports from abroad, depend on international traveling and those more reliant on face-to-face interactions for service delivery. On the demand side, private consumption declined, due to lower remittance inflows, households’ response to the health hazard, and containment measures. Non-priority public investment was curtailed to accommodate COVID-related expenditures, and donor disengagement after the military coup. Inflation picked up in May and continued to rise due to low cereal output and supply chain disruptions. The fiscal deficit increased to 5.5 percent of GDP in 2020. The pandemic’s economic toll and the slowdown in international trade slowed domestic revenues. Authorities responded with an ambitious COVID-19 emergency response plan (2.3 percent of GDP). Therefore, both the spending increases, and revenue shortfalls contributed to a higher fiscal deficit. Meanwhile, external support from international communities were delayed after the military coup. Public debt subsequently increased to 44.1 percent of GDP. Notwithstanding this increase, Mali remained at moderate risk of debt stress with some space toabsorb shocks (joint IMF/World Bank Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA), February 2020). The crisis offers an opportunity to build back educational systems stronger and more equitable than before. As rules around social distancing are gradually relaxed, systems need to ensure that schools reopen safely, student dropout is minimized, and learning recovery starts. An immediate policy option to focus on is the development and implementation of remedial education, accelerated learning programs, and revision of the academic calendar and examination schedules to allow effective school continuity particularly in poor and conflict areas. Medium-term policies in the aftermath of the pandemic will be the: (i) enhancement of the immediately established remote learning platforms within the ministry of national education and (ii) development of digital teaching content for each education level in full alignment with the existing curricula. Longer term policies would be to establish a virtual library with an inventory of national and international teaching resources to be used for remote learning programs to be delivered through existing channels (radio, television, mobile phone, and internet). These policies would make the country resilient to future disruptions. Given limited resources, policy prioritization, effective implementation should be emphasized and in line with a general framework of medium-term fiscal consolidation. A COVID-19 response plan was put in place in April 2020, with an uneven level of implementation. Lessons should be learnt with improved oversight of COVID-19 fund execution. Meanwhile, the enduring structural deficit and increasing resort to domestic short-term financing add to the risks on fiscal sustainability, which is further aggravated by the 2020 twin crises. The broad direction for fiscal policy changes points to the need to mobilize more domestic revenue and reform public spending to increase the fiscal space for higher quality services and investments, while reducing the overall deficit. 2021-08-05T16:54:14Z 2021-08-05T16:54:14Z 2021-06-10 Report http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/608701628112019671/Mali-Economic-Update-Protecting-the-Vulnerable-during-the-Recovery-Spring-2021 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36063 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 :: Economic Updates and Modeling Africa Africa Western and Central (AFW) Mali |