Priorities for a Fair Recovery from COVID-19 in South Asia

Abstract

This study identifies a set of priorities that South Asia must focus on to ensure a fair recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Undoubtedly, the socio-economic fallout from the pandemic has been considerably great. The pandemic has, however, also opened a window of opportunity for the world to ‘build back better’. A key pillar of this is the concept of ‘fair recovery’—a recovery, which will help put the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) ‘back on track’, is equitable, and leaves no one behind. Developing countries and regions, such as South Asia, that have been plagued with deep-rooted structural inequities, poor social protection systems, lower fiscal space, and institutional capacity constraints, will face challenges in designing and implementing policies for a fair recovery.