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This paper attempts to shed light on the impact of socio-economic disparity on learning engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia. Utilising search intensity data from Google Trends, school data from Dapodik (Education Core Database), and socio-economic data from the National Socioeconomic Survey, we conduct descriptive analysis, an event study, and difference-in-difference estimations. First, school quality differs in terms of the regions' development level, especially between western and eastern Indonesia. However, densely populated and well-developed areas generally have lower offline classroom availability. In addition, the quality of public schools is generally lower than private schools. Second, our estimation results show that only online-classroom related search intensity that increased significantly after school closures on 16 March 2020, not in self-learning related search intensity. Further the analysis shows that socio-economic disparity within provinces widens the gap in online learning engagement, albeit with weak evidence from per capita expenditure. Interestingly, provinces with a higher inequality and rural population tend to have higher self-learning related search intensity due to students' necessity to compensate for low learning quality from schools. In addition, technology adoption does not seem to give much of an increase to online-classroom related search intensity but contributes to lower self-learning related search intensity due to increased academic distraction. Our study provides evidence for the Indonesian government to make more precise policy in improving learning quality during the pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed serious challenges to Malaysia's economic progress and potentially its social stability and upward mobility. The government's eight stimulus packages have been too small to make a meaningful impact. Budget 2022 that will be tabled in the parliament in late October 2021 presents an opportunity to put in place radical measures.

The Citywide Inclusive Sanitation (CWIS) Guidance Notes aim to share essential knowledge to embed CWIS principles in planning and delivering sanitation services to developing member countries of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). These easy-to-understand learning materials are prepared by Water Sector Group of ADB, and structured along the ADB project processing cycle. They can be used to advocate and share the benefits of CWIS to all stakeholders.

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed serious challenges to Malaysia's economic progress and potentially its social stability and upward mobility. The government's eight stimulus packages have been too small to make a meaningful impact. Budget 2022 that will be tabled in the parliament in late October 2021 presents an opportunity to put in place radical measures.

This paper attempts to shed light on the impact of socio-economic disparity on learning engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia. Utilising search intensity data from Google Trends, school data from Dapodik (Education Core Database), and socio-economic data from the National Socioeconomic Survey, we conduct descriptive analysis, an event study, and difference-in-difference estimations. First, school quality differs in terms of the regions' development level, especially between western and eastern Indonesia. However, densely populated and well-developed areas generally have lower offline classroom availability. In addition, the quality of public schools is generally lower than private schools. Second, our estimation results show that only online-classroom related search intensity that increased significantly after school closures on 16 March 2020, not in self-learning related search intensity. Further the analysis shows that socio-economic disparity within provinces widens the gap in online learning engagement, albeit with weak evidence from per capita expenditure. Interestingly, provinces with a higher inequality and rural population tend to have higher self-learning related search intensity due to students' necessity to compensate for low learning quality from schools. In addition, technology adoption does not seem to give much of an increase to online-classroom related search intensity but contributes to lower self-learning related search intensity due to increased academic distraction. Our study provides evidence for the Indonesian government to make more precise policy in improving learning quality during the pandemic.

Before the COVID-19 crisis, Sri Lanka was already in a weak fiscal position, with low government tax revenue generation at 11.6% of GDP, a high public debt burden of 86.8% of GDP and a large fiscal deficit of 6.8% of GDP in 2019.1 The country was suffering from persistently slow economic growth, averaging around 3.5%, before declining to an 18-year low of 2.3% in 2019. The post-pandemic numbers have only worsened these outcomes; Sri Lanka recorded an estimated budget deficit of 11.1% of GDP in 2020, while government debt reached a high 101% of GDP in 2020. While the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) expects these numbers to come down to more comfortable levels in 2021, projections by multilateral financial institutions (MFls) are less sanguine. For instance, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Forecasts a fiscal deficit of 10.5% for 2021, with public debt to GDP too set to climb even higher in 2021.3 The World Bank's estimates largely correspond with these numbers, where public debt is expected to rise to nearly 115% of GDP in 2021. This is amid expectations that revenue generation will continue to remain low in the near term. These numbers leave Sri Lanka in a bind on mitigating the economic losses from the pandemic, along with the need to bear the added health cost burden from the pandemic, while injecting a fiscal stimulus to revive the economy. The government was quick to respond by establishing a cash transfer providing over 5.7 million monthly payments of LKR 5,000 to households as lockdown conditions came into effect and severely disrupted livelihoods. The government was lauded for their initial response, but much was left to be done to minimise the severity of the recession that followed and to provide significant protection to households. For instance, according to an analysis of stimulus packages provided in 18 countries, the stimulus package provided by Sri Lanka was found to be inadequate compared to an average of 3.5% of GDP allocated in other countries.

The Citywide Inclusive Sanitation (CWIS) Guidance Notes aim to share essential knowledge to embed CWIS principles in planning and delivering sanitation services to developing member countries of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). These easy-to-understand learning materials are prepared by Water Sector Group of ADB, and structured along the ADB project processing cycle. They can be used to advocate and share the benefits of CWIS to all stakeholders.

The Citywide Inclusive Sanitation (CWIS) Guidance Notes aim to share essential knowledge to embed CWIS principles in planning and delivering sanitation services to developing member countries of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). These easy-to-understand learning materials are prepared by Water Sector Group of ADB, and structured along the ADB project processing cycle. They can be used to advocate and share the benefits of CWIS to all stakeholders.

Understanding the direct and indirect health consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic is critical in designing a holistic public health response. This study has two objectives. First, we demonstrated the disruption of essential healthcare services using data from selected government facilities. Second, we estimated the productivity losses from direct and indirect health impacts of the pandemic. Validating our earlier study using health insurance claims, our findings showed a sharp decline in admissions and consultations in selected government facilities, particularly among the vulnerable population. Based on our estimates, the long-run costs from productivity losses from direct and indirect health impacts of the pandemic are PHP 2.3 trillion (at net present value). Indirect health impacts account for the majority of these costs.

The COVID-19, or coronavirus global pandemic, has required huge responses from governments all over the world. Timor-Leste has its own unique requirements when addressing an event of this magnitude. This research aims to understand: - The concerns of the people of Timor-Leste - How well people are adopting prevention measures and taking care of their health - The level of trust in government - The use of, and satisfaction with, government programs - The social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic - How household tasks have been distributed during the pandemic - The resilience of individuals and their communities - The sources of news and information the people of Timor-Leste are relying on to stay informed about the pandemic, and - People's views and understanding about the vaccine.

The COVID-19 pandemic took the world unawares with the developed, emerging and least developed countries equally prone to its contagion. But has it really been the 'Great Economic Equalizer' many have claimed? How has it impacted the last decade of action with regard to the Sustainable Development Goals, especially in South Asia? How has it affected different vulnerable groups such as students, small businesses, daily wagers, and sectors such as health, education, Information & Communication Technologies (ICTs) in countries like Pakistan and India? How did day-to-day social relationships change and what effects has that had on mental health and well-being? Most importantly, has the way nation-states govern changed from being economic-centric to becoming more human security-centric? Vibrant nations turn challenges into opportunities. Have governments and businesses across the world, particularly in South Asia found new ways of working? What are the areas where Pakistan's policymakers need to invest more to recover and improve? What are some of the best practices thought leaders need to focus on from the public and private sector to keep the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda on track, while ensuring economic, food, water, health, education, and human security for citizens?

The monetary policy is one of the major policy instruments used by central banks around the world to keep a check on the health of the economy. As Covid-19 continues to affect the key sectors of the economy, the central bank of Nepal that also works as the country's Monetary authority – Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) – has introduced several measures to keep the country's economy running amid the ongoing crisis. This policy brief takes into consideration evolving issues from the pandemic and provides some feasible recommendations to the central bank and the government to frame policies to better address the crisis.

Health care providers such as hospitals and primary health care facilities form an integral part of any health system. Providers must have both financial sustainability, such that they are able to continuously deliver health care services without bankruptcy, and sufficient profits to maintain and improve the quality of their services. In this context, the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) is envisioned to be the national purchaser of health services that can support both inpatient and primary health care providers in the country while providing financial risk protection for Filipinos. In this paper, we (1) described the financial health of select public and private hospitals in the Philippines, and (2) examined PhilHealth's current position in relation to its envisioned role as national strategic purchaser for Universal Health Care (UHC). On the financial health of select Philippine hospitals, we found that the size of public and private hospitals in our sample has been growing steadily from 2015 to 2020, with public hospitals turning to government capital investment programs and private hospitals using debt and profits from patients to expand assets. Private hospitals showed decent profitability margins, but they may easily fall into financial distress if their cash flows are disrupted such as from inability to collect on receivables from health insurance payments. Meanwhile, prior to any government subsidies, public hospitals faced continuous negative profitability margins, signaling that they continuously operate on financial deficits. Ultimately, their heavy reliance on subsidies indicates that public facilities are not self-sufficient and may be chronically underfunded. Limited budgets seem to be channeled towards essential expenses, like personnel services, to keep operations going. Compared with the expectations of UHC for the institution, PhilHealth is still far from functioning effectively as the country's envisioned national purchaser. In gathering monopsonistic power, PhilHealth has ...

The Philippines entered its deepest recession in post-war history in 2020, with output declining by 9.6 percent. Coming up with a strategy on how to best manage the economy and deal with the fallout of the public health shock, especially on the weaker segments of society, became the biggest challenge of the country's economic policymakers. This chapter/paper looks more closely at that episode, dissecting the macroeconomic impact of the coronavirus, viewing it up close through its impact on households and firms, and then chronicling and reviewing the macroeconomic policy responses of government. It ends by summarizing the lessons to carry and the options on the path forward—for the near future, as the country continues to struggle with the pandemic, and for when it enters a more normalized (post-pandemic) world.

Bangladesh, like most of the countries in the world, had to restrict mobility and economic activities to tackle the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Indeed, the pandemic has been exerting pressure on the economy through both global and domestic shocks leading to a detrimental impact on major macroeconomic correlates of the country. The present study urges that Bangladesh will need to pursue a counter cyclical fiscal policy stance in the face of deceleration in aggregate demand. The study further maintains that greater fiscal resources should be directed towards those people, households and enterprises having a higher propensity to consume and invest. From this perspective, the study strongly advocates for direct cash transfers, food support, and enhanced public expenditures in health and education rather than a general increase in public expenditures and subsidised credit flow. Using Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model, the study presents ex-ante economic-wide impact analyses of two expansionary fiscal policy interventions. Doubling government transfers to low income household categories is expected to have a greater impact on the real consumption of poorer households. In contrast, a 50 per cent increase in government expenditure for health and education will have a greater positive impact on real GDP and export. In view of the trends of the last decade, the study concludes that it is not the lack of resources, rather the limited capacity of the government agencies which poses the major challenge in pursuing an expansionary fiscal policy in the country.