Now that the dust has begun to settle on the Covid-19 pandemic, it is time to reflect on and draw lessons from country experiences in pandemic response, in relation to fiscal management and reform. In order to apply these lessons, countries will require increased fiscal space to enable them to implement social safety nets that help balance the trade-off between livelihoods on the one hand, and health and the economy on the other.
What follows in this Research for Policy and Practice Report is a collection of studies supported by the Covid-19 Responses for Equity (CORE) Programme. These studies provide solid evidence from a diverse range of cases, each with varying contexts and constraints, about fiscal policies and macroeconomic reforms that could support crisis response. Improved tax collection and better management of fiscal resources could enable improved social and physical infrastructures, as well as improved social safeguards and safety nets. These considerations should be part of an improved response when the next pandemic hits.
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