World Bank-UNICEF Survey Finds Inequality Has Likely Increased in PNG, with Bottom 40% Hit Hardest by Latest Outbreak
New Delhi: A joint World Bank and UNICEF report based on mobile phone surveys of Papua New Guinean families has found that while there was a slight recovery in employment between June and December 2020, people in the bottom 40% of wealth distribution remain the hardest hit by the Coronavirus pandemic.
Conducted in December 2020, this second World Bank survey (the first was conducted in June 2020), shows that inequality has likely increased in PNG in the year since the pandemic began, and that the current COVID-19 outbreak is expected to deepen inequalities even further.
“According to the report, there were positive signs that PNG was starting to recover from the initial shocks of the pandemic between June and December 2020,” explained Stefano Mocci, World Bank Country Manager for Papua New Guinea. “However, it was largely wealthier households who were experiencing the fastest recovery in employment and income. In contrast, in areas with above average poverty, there were still high job losses.”
“Given a possible third wave of COVID-19 infections has strong potential to cause further declines in employment and income, social and economic support needs to be targeted to those most vulnerable – the bottom 40% – to try and lessen the widening inequality gap.”
“Little is known about how COVID-19 affects children in PNG,” expressed Judith Bruno, acting UNICEF PNG Representative. “Overwhelmingly, households with children under the age of 15 considered COVID-19 as a major threat to household finances and reported decreases in access to basic services, including water supply, sanitation, health care, and mental health and psychosocial support.”
“This World Bank and UNICEF collaboration will help policy makers and responders to better protect children from the virus, promote safe and continued access to services, and prevent children and their families from further economic hardship.”
Other key findings from the second of five planned World Bank surveys include:
· For those still working, more than 75% of respondents reported receiving the same income as usual in the past week, compared to less than 50% in June (the strongest gains were for those in the top 40% of wealth distribution);
· Rural households, and those in the bottom 40% of wealth distribution, were most likely to see decreases in money sent by friends or family.
· 77% of households were somewhat worried, or very worried, about their household finances in the next month.
· 33% of households in the bottom 40% of wealth distribution were unable to buy their preferred protein, compared to just four percent of households in the top 40%.
· Less than 10% of primary and elementary school students participated in distance learning while schools were closed, but there were no significant differences between boys and girls returning to school and no evidence that the pandemic has widened the education gender gap.
· Compared to the rest of the country, households in the National Capital District (NCD) were more likely to report deteriorations in theft, alcohol and drug abuse, violence by police and domestic abuse since June 2020 – all indicators of rising tensions in the capital, Port Moresby.
The full report is available online. Work on the next round of the survey is now underway and will reflect the recent spike of cases in PNG that emerged in late February 2021.
In April 2020, the World Bank committed US$20 million to support PNG’s fight against COVID-19. The project has supported the Government of PNG to deliver personal protective equipment to all 22 provinces, scaled up lab-capacity for COVID-19 testing, and supported infection prevention training for health workers and essential frontline workers across the country. This has been achieved alongside partners including the Australian Government (DFAT), UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS).
The World Bank works in partnership with 12 countries across the Pacific, supporting 87 projects totaling US$2 billion in commitments in sectors including agriculture, aviation and transport, climate resilience and adaptation, economic policy, education and employment, energy, fisheries, health, macroeconomic management, rural development, and telecommunications.
The World Bank Group’s Operational Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Bank Group has committed over $125 billion to fight the health, economic, and social impacts of the pandemic, the fastest and largest crisis response in its history. The financing is helping more than 100 countries strengthen pandemic preparedness, protect the poor and jobs, and jump start a climate-friendly recovery. The Bank is also providing $12 billion to help low- and middle-income countries purchase and distribute COVID-19 vaccines, tests, and treatments.