All Publications | COVID-19 (Coronavirus)

Mar 15, 2023

Smarter Systems: How tweaking your diligence process can unlock overlooked opportunities

This toolkit, developed by Village Capital in partnership with IFC, the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi), and academic research partners Amisha Miller and Saurabh Lall, includes two action-oriented implementation guides — one for individual and institutional investors and one for incubator and accelerator leaders.

Oct 24, 2022

Bridging the Gap in the Arab States: Emerging Private Sector Response and Recovery Measures for Gender Equality amid COVID-19

This regional report aims to inform companies in the Arab region and around the world on practices and initiatives for supporting women leaders, employees, entrepreneurs and those in value chains to navigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

39 pages | © October 2022 IFC | Complimentary

Jun 16, 2022

Technical Benchmarking Guide On COVID-19 Related Personal Protective Equipment

This technical benchmarking guide, created in partnership with the British Standards Institution (BSI), helps fill a critical knowledge gap on technical regulations and standards for PPE.

English | 272 pages | 2022 IFC

May 11, 2022

Banks Show Strong Signs of Recovery from the Pandemic

Despite some positive economic signs as the pandemic begins to recede, financial institutions in emerging markets face multiple new risks, a new survey finds.

English | 8 pages | 2022 IFC

May 3, 2022

Creating Markets in Fiji: Country Private Sector Diagnostic

The Fiji Country Private Sector Diagnostic (CPSD) provides IFC and World Bank analysis of challenges and opportunities for investment and economic growth.

English | 104 pages | 2022 IFC

Apr 28, 2022

Creating Markets in Mali: Country Private Sector Diagnostic

The Mali Country Private Sector Diagnostic (CPSD) provides IFC & World Bank analysis of investment opportunities and policy recommendations for private sector development.

English - 130 pages | French - 150 pages | 2022 IFC

Mar 7, 2022

Opportunities and Constraints of Women Owned Very Small Enterprises in India

This report presents a post COVID landscape of Women’s Very Small Enterprises (WVSEs) in India. It quantifies the untapped credit opportunity and provides lenders with a roadmap for implementation.

English | 142 pages | 2022 IFC

Jul 29, 2021

Sector Notes | COVID-19's Impact on Infrastructure

The COVID–19 outbreak has significantly impacted infrastructure development and the global economy. International response to the rapid disruption to key infrastructure sectors and industries is ongoing. IFC’s COVID–19 infrastructure sector notes provide a quick and short analyses on the impact of the pandemic on different infrastructure sectors while proposing recommendations for an effective response to this global crisis.

English | 2020 IFC

Jul 28, 2021

The Impact of the COVID-19 Crisis on Subnational Governments in Emerging Markets: The Outlook One Year On

Subnational governments in emerging market cities have undoubtedly felt the brunt of the COVID-19 crisis. Cities have been at the forefront of the pandemic, given both the impact it has had on their budgets and their citizens, and their central role in managing it. In our October 2020 note, we shared thoughts on what the crisis could mean for cities. More than a year after the crisis first hit, we now project gradual recovery for subnational governments in the second half of 2021 and 2022. This should support investment and lending activity by development finance institutions (DFIs) to help address infrastructure needs globally.

English | 5 pages | IFC 2021

Jul 8, 2021

Navigating through COVID-19: Country snapshots on how the pandemic affected MSMEs in the Middle East and Africa

These country snapshots look at the state of business operations in countries across the Middle East and Africa and how businesses are navigating the challenges wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic. The notes look at three main areas: The financial health and resilience of the MSME sector in the country, the crisis response and future plans of businesses, and MSME support needed from governments and financial institutions.

Jun 4, 2021

Sustainability Case Studies: Lessons Learned on Leading Through Crisis and Recovering Stronger

This publication features practical guidance from successful women business leaders on how companies can build their resilience. It is based on survey data, first-hand experience, and lessons learned as these women—all working in emerging markets or fragile contexts—steered their organizations through the COVID-19 crisis.

Jun 4, 2021

Sustainability Case Studies: Lessons Learned on Leading Through Crisis and Recovering Stronger

This publication features practical guidance from successful women business leaders on how companies can build their resilience. It is based on survey data, first-hand experience, and lessons learned as these women—all working in emerging markets or fragile contexts—steered their organizations through the COVID-19 crisis.

14 pages | © June 2021 IFC | Complimentary

May 12, 2021

The Early Impact of COVID-19 on Financial Institutions

The global COVID-19 pandemic and diminished economic activity that resulted from it had a significant impact on financial institutions around the world in 2020. In order to gauge that impact and identify the areas of financial institutions’ operations that felt it most acutely, IFC launched a survey of financial institution clients in October 2020. The survey asked managers to share their assessments of the pandemic’s impact primarily along four dimensions: operations, strategic direction, funding, and loan portfolio. This note summarizes key findings extracted from the responses of 149 clients across 65 emerging markets, representing approximately 30 percent of IFC's outstanding portfolio in long-term finance to financial institutions.

Mar 16, 2021

A Guide to Contracting for Health Services During the Covid-19 Pandemic

This primer, developed jointly by the WHO and IFC, offers a practical introduction to contracting the private sector in support of national COVID-19 responses.

English | 31 pages | 2021, WHO and IFC

Mar 8, 2021

How Firms Are Responding And Adapting During COVID-19 And Recovery

The COVID-19 crisis has disproportionately affected the most vulnerable firms and individuals in emerging markets, especially women and low-income populations. These groups faced significant challenges to growth and prosperity before the pandemic, and COVID-19 has only exacerbated their plights, resulting in even wider global inequities, including a further increase in global financial and digital divides. The private sector has already begun to respond to the crisis—in sectors such as digital infrastructure, trade, power, and tourism, and with methods that cut across sectors, such as inclusive business models, disruptive technologies, social bonds, and private equity. This proves that businesses can play a vital role in amplifying the public and humanitarian response to the crisis, while supporting recovery and driving strategic growth going forward, and setting the stage for “building back better” post crisis. This report highlights opportunities for businesses in emerging markets t

English | 136 pages | IFC 2021

Feb 28, 2021

Blended Concessional Finance and COVID-19

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments, development institutions, and private companies are trying to find mechanisms to prevent the loss of essential economic activity under difficult and uncertain market conditions. In this context, blended concessional finance deployed by DFIs is already playing an even greater role than in the recent past, as it can help bridge critical financing gaps by placing important projects within the risk tolerance of private sector investors and DFIs, despite great market and financial uncertainty. Blended concessional finance will play a critical role to ensure that the response to the pandemic remains focused on the most difficult markets and, as efforts to rebuild are put in motion, the rebuilding is done in an inclusive and climate and gender-smart manner.

English | 8 pages—February—Note 99 | IFC 2021

Feb 26, 2021

Special Guidance: Disclosure and Transparency in Crisis - Increasing Resilience and Building Trust During and After COVID-19

This Special Guidance is designed to help both listed and privately-owned companies disclose what they are doing to manage the economic, environmental, and social impacts of the pandemic, using IFC’s Disclosure and Transparency Framework, which is focused on strategy, governance, and performance.

Feb 26, 2021

Special Guidance: Disclosure and Transparency in Crisis - Increasing Resilience and Building Trust During and After COVID-19

This Special Guidance is designed to help both listed and privately-owned companies disclose what they are doing to manage the economic, environmental, and social impacts of the pandemic, using IFC's Disclosure and Transparency Framework, which is focused on strategy, governance, and performance.

20 pages | © February 2021 | Complimentary

Jan 22, 2021

COVID-19 Response: Corporate Strategies for Supporting Small and Medium Enterprise Suppliers in the Andean Region

The COVID-19 crisis is disrupting global, regional, and local value chains and is causing significant challenges for both corporations and their SME suppliers, including women-owned SMEs (WSMEs). This learning brief presents highlights from a virtual roundtable organized for corporate representatives to learn about the impact of COVID-19 on value chains and to share strategies to support SME suppliers, including WSMEs, during and post-crisis. The event brought together managers in procurement, purchasing, and sustainability from companies sourcing goods and services from Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru.

English | 2 pages | 2021 IFC

Jan 14, 2021

Taking Action on Trade: From Concern to Support

This note investigates COVID-19-related trade restrictions and discusses their consequences. It also illuminates the importance of trade, especially during the current pandemic, through the voices of global leaders as well as a collective set of emerging market voices.

English | 18 pages | IFC 2021

Dec 17, 2020

How Has COVID-19 Affected Haiti’s Apparel Industry

This joint study of 33 firms from the garment sector, that represent 87 percent of L’Association des Industries d’Haïti's (ADIH) membership and employ around 55,000 formal workers, provides key insights to help public and private decision makers navigate the crisis, and signals opportunities for the sector.

Dec 10, 2020

Bridging the Gap: Emerging Private Sector Response and Recovery Measures for Gender Equality amid COVID-19

As COVID-19 widens global gender gaps, IFC and UN Women have partnered to showcase a growing number of companies and organizations around the world that are taking action to ensure the economic inclusion and social well-being of their employees, customers, and suppliers, as well as local communities. This report aims to inform companies around the world on emerging practices and initiatives for supporting women employees, entrepreneurs, and those in value chains amid the pandemic.

English | 34 pages | 2020 IFC & UN Women

Dec 1, 2020

How the Tourism Sector in Emerging Markets is Recovering from COVID-19

This note explores the factors in specific tourism destinations that contribute to pandemic-related vulnerability, as well as the factors that support the resilience of the tourism sector. Examining all these factors together provides a snapshot of the countries as well as the subsectors that are most likely to recover first, as well as those that will require greater support to weather and recover from the crisis.

English | 8 pages—December—Note 95 | IFC 2020

Nov 30, 2020

Leading a Clean Urban Recovery with Electric Buses

With the imposition of lockdowns in early 2020 due to the onset of COVID-19, bus, train, and metro lines experienced significant decreases in ridership. Between March and April, public transit ridership was down 70-90 percent in some places. These recent challenges have come on top of a fall in public transport ridership over the past decade, all of which leads some to wonder if our ability to get around cities will ever be the same.

English | 8 pages | IFC 2020

Nov 19, 2020

Why Trade Finance Matters—Especially Now

This note, the second of IFC’s “Trade and COVID Trilogy,” collects and analyzes trade-related findings from over 70 “Daily News Summaries” and other data sources from late March to early November, 2020.