Temporary basic income to help world’s poorest during pandemic: UNDP – Saudi Gazette

Temporary basic income to help world’s poorest during pandemic: UNDP – Saudi Gazette

NEW YORK “” The immediate introduction of a temporary basic income for the world's poorest people could slow the current surge in COVID-19 cases by enabling nearly three billion people to stay at home, according to a United Nations Development Program (UNDP) report released on Thursday.

The report, titled, 'Temporary Basic Income: Protecting Poor and Vulnerable People in Developing Countries', estimates that it would cost from $199 billion per month to provide a time-bound, guaranteed basic income to the 2.7 billion people living below or just above the poverty line in 132 developing countries.

The report concludes that the measure is feasible and urgently needed, with the pandemic now spreading at a rate of more than 1.5 million new cases per week, particularly in developing countries, where seven out of ten workers make a living through informal markets and cannot earn money if they are at home.

Many of the huge numbers of people not covered by social insurance programs are informal workers, low-waged, women and young people, refugees and migrants, and people with disabilities “” and they are the ones hardest hit by this crisis.

UNDP has carried out assessments on the socio-economic effects of COVID-19 in more than 60 countries in the