The COVID-19 crisis is expected to lead to a 46.4 percent decline in Tunisia's GDP during the 2nd quarter of 2020 (April to June). The industrial sector will be hit hardest, with output falling by 52.7 percent, followed closely by services (-49.0 percent) and agriculture (-16.2 percent). These high losses are a result of the complete lockdown imposed in the country to contain the pandemic. Higher-income urban households will see the largest income losses, although lower-income urban households also will experience significant reductions in their income. As a policy response, social transfers towards poorer households will reduce the adverse welfare impact of these drops in household income. Government policies to support struggling businesses will allow economic activities to revive more rapidly when the lockdown loosens. Consequently, comprehensive planning by the Government of Tunisia to reopen the economy will be critical to reduce the pandemic's adverse impact on the country's economy in the longer-term, reducing losses of employment and income, especially in manufacturing and retail.

Global economic growth projections for 2020 have been revised downward, reflecting a dramatic worldwide economic downturn that has been driven by lockdowns associated with the COVID-19 pandemic that sharply restricted workforce mobility and trade flows. Jordan is no exception to this pattern, as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently revised downwards it outlook on expected levels of growth for the Jordanian economy through 2020 (IMF 2020a).Economic growth in Jordan potentially will come to a halt this year. This comes as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. Government imposed an economic lockdown which restricted non-essential economic activities and people's movement in order to contain the virus. A SAM multiplier model was used to estimate the economic impact of the lockdown and to explore potential recovery pathways for the Jordanian economy. Some of the key findings from this modeling exercise are:• National GDP is estimated to have fallen by 23 percent during the lockdown period. The services sector was hardest hit, seeing an estimated drop in output of almost 30 percent.• Food systems in Jordan are estimated to have experienced a reduction in output by almost 40 percent.• Employment losses during the lockdown were estimated at over 20 percent, mainly driven by job losses in services, followed by agriculture.• Household income fell on average by around one-fifth due to the lockdown, mainly driven by contraction in service sector activities, by slowdown in manufacturing activity, and by lower remittances from abroad.• GDP growth rates for Jordan's economy will continue to be negative through 2020, ranging from -5.7 to -7.4 percent, depending on the speed of economic recovery. A slow pace of recovery is expected.This economic recovery offers opportunities for fostering sustainable economic transformation and structural change. Economic policies and incentives should be directed towards more economic diversification, greater resilience to withstand economic shocks, and job creation.

Since the start of the conflict in 2015, Yemen has experienced economic devastation. By the end of 2019, the loss of real GDP reached approximately 45 percent, estimated to be around 66 billion US dollars by the Yemeni Ministry of Planning (MPIC 2019). As economic activity within Yemen has stalled, remittances from Yemenis working outside the country remained a valuable and increasingly important source of income. Above and beyond the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic inside of Yemen, the impact of the global recession on incomes earned by Yemenis abroad has the potential to have major negative consequences for the economy of Yemen.The World Bank estimated the value of remittances to Yemen at 3.77 billion US dollars in 2019, representing around 13 percent of the Yemeni GDP, up from 10 percent in 2014 (World Bank 2021).

BackgroundThis evaluation encompasses two related investigations. The first is a randomized controlled trial evaluating the impacts of school meals and literacy programs that will launch when Mozambican primary schools reopen from COVID-19 closures; the evaluation will measure the effects of the interventions on early-grade student outcomes, including nutrition, reading, and school attainment. The second analyzes the effects of school closures due to COVID-19 on schooling attainment, well-being, and mental health among young adolescents in the same schools, particularly adolescent girls.

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