The World Bank recently released its MENA Development Report titled “Distributional Impacts of COVID-19 in the Middle East and North Africa Region” where it tried to assess the impact of the pandemic on the MENA region as a whole and on some countries in specific. The World Bank commented that the MENA region was already facing a myriad of challenges before the COVID-19 pandemic, citing three crises over the past decade namely the Arab uprising, the 2014-2016 decline in oil prices and the resurgence of protests during the year 2019. In figures, the World Bank revealed that the annual growth rate per capita stood at a mere 1.4% for the MENA region over the past two decades, way below that of its peers. In addition, extreme poverty (living at below $1.90 per day) has almost doubled from 2.4% in 2011 to 4.2% in 2015, mainly on the back of the conflicts in Syria, Yemen and Libya, while food insecurity has been on the rise, always according to the report. The World Bank highlighted, however, that the COVID-19 crisis differs from its predecessors given its comprehensive impact on all countries. In this regard, the report pointed out that the economic cost of the pandemic stood at around $227 billion in the MENA region, and that fiscal stimulus packages that stood at around 2.7% of GDP have strained the already weak fiscal positions across the region. The World Bank estimated MENA’s economic output to have fallen by more than 5% in the year 2020, with recovery unlikely to occur before the years 2024 or 2025. The report relayed four messages on the MENA front namely, COVID is hitting some groups harder than others (message 1), the region is facing other socio-economic challenges (message 2), economies are at risk of unequal recovery (message 3) and the region must prepare itself better for future shocks (message 4). As far as message 1 is concerned, the World Bank revealed that the poorer segments of society were the most hardly hit, given their cramped living conditions which facilitate the spread of the virus added the fact that they are more likely to be working in client-facing jobs. As far as message 1 is concerned, the report uncovered that those employed in some sectors such as extractive industries, tourism (hotels, restaurants, etc.), transport, commerce and construction have been more touched by the COVID-19 virus. As for message 2, the report commented that MENA countries have grappled with severe problems alongside the COVID-19 pandemic, such as inflation, macroeconomic crises in addition to hosting a large number of refugees. When it comes to message 3, the report conveyed that the poor will be the weakest link in the recovery process, namely those working in the informal sector where social/health insurance coverage is not present. In this regard, the World Bank suggested measures to rectify this problem, such as ensuring the inclusion of the poor in the recovery process, citing that Tunisia granted needy families cash assistances, and public assistance to firms in the form of wage subsidies with the goal of avoiding disruptions in the labor market. Finally, and concerning message 4, the report called on MENA countries to be better equipped for future shocks by accelerating vaccination efforts, using data identification systems to deliver services, and improving data quality & transparency. As far as Lebanon is concerned, the World Bank unveiled that poverty levels for the Lebanese population have increased by 13 percentage points in 2020 compared to the year 2019, and by 28 percentage points in 2021. The impact on Syrian refugees was much harsher, with poverty levels rising by 39 percentage points in 2020 and by 52 percentage points for the year 2021. As a result, an additional 2.3 million individuals will drop below the international poverty line in the year 2021, of which 1.5 million are Lebanese and 780,000 are Syrian refugees. The hike in poverty levels has been fueled by soaring inflation levels which averaged 84% in the year 2020 whilst peaking at 145% at certain instances. The report denoted that the myriad of crisis burdening Lebanon along with the COVID-19 pandemic have detrimentally affected households whether on a monetary level, i.e. via the loss of income or on a non-monetary level via disruptions in sectors such as health and education. The report added that in the light of the myriad of crisis the country is experiencing, the government’s hands are practically tied, limiting its ability to deliver social assistance to its citizens. In this regard, the World Bank pointed out that while donor agencies such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Food Program (WFP) have increased their assistances to refugees, said increases have failed to keep up with the devaluation of the Lebanese pound, decreasing the real value of the assistances. The report also pinpointed that many poor workers work in the informal market in Lebanon, with such enterprises resorting to job cuts or suspensions during times of crisis, and government regulation failing to provide any protection in such instances. The report also lamented the absence of reliable data in Lebanon, while highlighting that the presence of reliable poverty data is critical to adequately responding to crises and drafting recovery policies. The World Bank uncovered that economic recovery in Lebanon is not “expected” under the current macroeconomic outlook, while stressing that structural reforms are critical on the road to recovery and that social protection programs are crucial to alleviating the impact of the multiple crises.