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Distributional Impacts of COVID-19 in MENA
targeted assistance. Similarly, subpopulations (such as refugees) covered by existing assistance systems have been found to be more protected against shocks caused by COVID-19 than populations at large. These findings suggest that one tool that deserves attention is Identification for Development (ID4D). Facilitated by digital identification (like civil registration), ID4D is designed to help people access services through digital identification systems. It can help build an inclusive database and better identify and target beneficiaries by addressing issues such as poverty, gender equality and female empowerment, inequality, financial inclusion, health insurance coverage, and safe migration. Such a tool would be particularly helpful in MENA, given that it is difficult to track and account for activities and workers in the informal sector, not to mention maintain official records and evidence. Third, improve data quality and transparency. Improved data and transparency are urgently needed to inform decision-making about the economic recovery and to improve resilience to future shocks. Good policies cannot be made in a vacuum and without evidence. They require publicly accessible data and engagement with stakeholders. During the pandemic, the absence of data was strongly felt by leaders who did not know which sectors were most affected or which citizens were most vulnerable, yet they were forced to make decisions on that scant evidence. The crisis also underscored the importance of real-time data collection to facilitate timely response actions from governments. This report aims to contribute to the data and evidence needed to inform recovery efforts. It does so in part by drawing on phone surveys implemented across the region, often in response to the crisis, in a remarkable data collection effort. Even so, the overwhelming sentiment remains one of data scarcity. More than 18 months since the onset of the pandemic, disaggregated information on the number of infected, hospitalized, or vaccinated people is almost impossible to obtain—as is up-to-date information on the socioeconomic impacts of the crisis. Given the region’s long period of underinvestment in statistics, this lack of performance is unsurprising. However, now more than ever this low statistical capacity must be urgently addressed, and MENA now has a rare opportunity to seize the moment and do so.
Notes 1. COVID-19 Business Pulse Survey Dashboard (https://www.worldbank.org /e n/data/interactive/2021/01/19/covid-19-business-pulse-survey -dashboard); COVID-19 Household Monitoring Dashboard (https://www .worldbank.org/en/data/interactive/2020/11/11/covid-19-high-frequency -monitoring-dashboard).
