ADB: "Azerbaijan's social costs will reach 6% of GDP after COVID-19"

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) predicts that costs of Azerbaijan's social protection in the post-COVID-19 recovery/transition stage will increase to 5.94% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2031, Report informs, citing ADB's publication "COVID-19 and Social Protection in Asia and the Pacific: Projected Costs for 2020–2030."

According to the document, the ratio of social protection costs to GDP will be 4.46% this year, 4.25% in 2023, 4.58% in 2024, 5.26% in 2025 and 5.94% in 2026, 6.38% in 2027, 6.39% in 2028 and 6.17% in 2029. In 2020, this figure was 3.59% in 2020 and 4.62% in 2021.

In the Central and West Asian region, the ratio of social protection costs to GDP is expected to be 4.61% this year and 7.2% in 2030.

While the COVID-19 pandemic delivered a severe blow to achievements toward the SDG targets, including poverty alleviation and social protection, it also serves as an important lesson in the urgency of strengthening comprehensive national social protection systems in countries around the world. To support this endeavor in Asia and the Pacific, the estimates presented in this report plot an approximation of incremental financial needs in 30 countries in the region to deliver a set of measures to facilitate emergency assistance (2020), recovery support (2021–2023), and prolonged comprehensive social protection floors for the remaining duration of the SDG targets (2024–2030).