Countries must seize opportunity to build back better

THE coronavirus pandemic represents a significant challenge to global health and economies. Developing countries are especially vulnerable to its long-term effects. While governments have naturally turned their attention towards the urgent health and jobs crises, they must not lose sight of the importance of maintaining access to critical infrastructure services: water and sanitation, transportation, digital communications, energy - all of which have an important part in the fight against Covid-19 and will have important roles in crisis recovery.

Moreover, once the acute phase of this crisis is over, we know that many governments will turn to infrastructure spending as an economic stimulus to create jobs and stimulate productive investment. For developing countries, the stakes couldn't be higher.

Yet, in the rush to stimulus, we must be careful to avoid the mistakes we've seen after other economic crises as they relate to infrastructure investment: unstrategic development, shoddy projects, and corruption. This caution should be coupled with optimism. There is truly an opportunity to build better, greener, more inclusively and sustainably.