Socio-economic impacts of COVID-19, policy responses and the missing middle in South Asia

Abstract

This report documents the ongoing policy responses to the COVID-19 crisis in South Asia and lessons that can be drawn for the future of social protection in the region. It discusses the epidemiological evolution of the disease and the containment measures adopted, the channels through which the pandemic and containment measures affect the economy and livelihoods and the monetary and fiscal responses enacted by governments in the region, focused on how social protection systems have adapted and expanded to respond to the pandemic, highlighting the challenges involved in reaching the 'missing middle': workers covered neither by social assistance nor by social insurance