PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Development Aid: Coronavirus (5 June 2020)

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what support her Department is providing to (a) local markets, (b) SMEs and (c) the informal economy in fragile and conflict affected states during the covid-19 pandemic.

Asked by:
Fleur Anderson (Labour)

We have adapted existing bilateral health, humanitarian, economic and social protection programmes across 35 countries and regions as part of our COVID-19 response. We are assessing secondary impacts on local agriculture and food markets in fragile and conflict affected states, and helping to mitigate these through multilateral initiatives such as the Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme (GAFSP).

As a shareholder and leading donor to the Multilateral Development Banks, we have been working with them to ensure that they are rapidly providing much-needed working capital to SMEs and supply chains that workers and farmers in developing countries depend on. This includes $8 billion of fast-tracked support from the International Finance Cooperation.

We are also exploring how DFID’s private sector development finance programmes can respond and complement this support. For example, CDC is supporting its existing portfolio of investee companies, and their workforces, to weather the crisis, and is looking to make new investments that provide systemic liquidity to companies, including SMEs. We are also working to support businesses with supply chains in developing countries to ensure their most vulnerable workers and suppliers are prepared for the anticipated economic and social shocks.

Answered by:
Sir James Duddridge (Conservative)
10 June 2020