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This paper proposes a floating-interest-rate infrastructure bond, where the interest of a government bond is paid to investors during the period of construction and the early period of operation. Unlike the usual government bond, which provides a fixed interest rate, the proposed floating-interest-rate infrastructure bond pays a floating interest, the rate of which depends on spillover tax revenues. Effective infrastructure projects have a positive effect on the economic growth of a region, known as the spillover effect. When user charges and the return from spillover tax revenues are below the fixed rate of the government bond, the interest rate will equal to the fixed rate of the government bond. In this case, investors in the infrastructure will receive interest on the government bond at the minimum rate. As the spillover effect of the infrastructure increases, the rate of return for infrastructure investment will become greater than the fixed rate of the government bond. The success of the floating-interest-rate infrastructure bond depends on the spillover effect and on transparency and accountability. Policy recommendations are provided in this paper on how to increase the spillover effect and improve transparency and accountability.

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The impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak have heavily affected Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) member countries, which include Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Pakistan, the People's Republic of China (PRC), Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The COVID-19 crisis and the resulting falls in demand and supply due both to uncertainty and policy measures such as lockdowns, "social distancing," and travel restrictions are having a severe impact on employment and education in CAREC member countries. In order to better understand these impacts, computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI) of households were conducted in ten countries from the CAREC region (excluding the PRC). This paper estimates the impact of COVID-19 on employment, household business and education in schools in December 2020 compared with June 2020.