FOREWORD
Occurrences of epidemics, natural disasters and calamities are often unpredictable, with volatile impacts on economies and communities across the globe. The resultant after-shocks invariably undermine income and employment prospects,
exacerbating inequalities, in particular for vulnerable groups within societies.
The COVID 19 pandemic, whose effects and devastation have been felt across all parts of the world, have magnified pre-existing differences in economic and social conditions of the vulnerable citizenry. It has disproportionately disrupted the livelihoods of those at the lower end of the income strata, and with limited scope for selfisolation-exacerbating employment insecurities and, hence, vulnerability to its contagion.
The robust response to the pandemic by Government, including the stimulus package of ZWL$18 billion, equivalent to 9% of GDP, have been targeted at ameliorating some of the negative effects on the productive sectors, safeguarding
livelihoods, and saving of lives.
In the process, Government consciously took the costly but necessary decision to ring fence and protect infrastructure spending on priority projects critical to facilitating provision of public utility services in areas such as electricity supply,
provision of water and sanitation, transport and ICT broadband services. Sustaining public spending on construction activities has served to improve delivery of infrastructure projects, under the difficult environment posed by
the Covid 19 pandemic, as Government meaningfully begins to redress and overcome some of the challenges arising from the prevailing infrastructure gap constraining rapid economic growth and development.
