Getting funds to those in need and enabling access to money during COVID-19, part 1: COVID-19 and the national payments system
Governments and economists are now focused on the macroeconomic policies that can support economies during the Covid-19 pandemic. Yet, for policies to be effective and economies to function, payment and settlement systems and services – collectively referred to as the National Payments System (NPS) – must operate efficiently and securely. The recommended actions in this area are discussed in this three-part post, very much supported by the World Bank Group, and add to the recent important contributions to policy making at the time of the Covid-19 pandemic hosted by VoxEU (see Baldwin and Weder di Mauro 2020). In particular, they are critical to enable economies to deliver immediate response to people and businesses in need during times of emergency (Furman 2020).
The NPS underpins the functioning of the economy by enabling large-value transactions among financial institutions and corporates, as well as the smaller payments and money transfers between people, businesses, and government agencies.
Although the effects of…
