Factors Influencing Inclusive Economic Resilience in Middle-income Countries

Abstract

The 2008/9 global financial crisis and now COVID-19 has demonstrated that both financial sector volatility and contagious diseases can cause huge worldwide economic disruptions. This helpdesk report reviews the key threats to the resilience of middle-income countries and their at-risk population groups. It is divided into six sections. Section 2, explores the factors that effect a country's economic vulnerability, whilst Sections 3 does the same for economic resilience and Section 4 for inclusive economic resilience specifically. Section 5 then focuses on middle-income countries and discusses the particular issues they frequently face that can exacerbate their economic vulnerability and hamper inclusive economic resilience. Finally, Section 6 focuses on three areas where many middle-income countries could prioritise reforms in order to improve their economic resilience, namely: increasing revenue mobilisation, improving their management of investment flows and the financial system and developing crisis management capacity. Section 6 also discusses the importance of ensuring that development programming in middle-income countries balances support for increased efficiency and robustness in order to promote both growth and economic resilience.