A roundup of the most relevant coronavirus-related news, resources and events from the past week, carefully curated by FinDev editors for the microfinance and financial inclusion community.

SEEP reminds the financial inclusion community about the Minimum Economic Recovery Standards, a guide for practitioners on improving economic assistance for disaster recovery and can also provide some guidance on what to do in the context of COVID-19.

Governments and startups on the continent are implementing measures to shift a greater volume of payment transactions toward mobile money and away from cash. It’s an option facilitated by the boom in fintech that’s occurred in Africa over the last decade. 

The government’s decision to stop issuing permits to migrant workers will have significant consequences for the country, where economic activities are driven by remittances, experts say.

If the microfinance sector is going to survive the pandemic, we need to treat COVID-19 as the fundamental threat to the industry that it likely is. 

Paytm, India’s largest digital payments and financial services company has entered into a strategic partnership with Indian Oil Corporation Limited to enable digital transactions across its fueling stations as well as LPG cylinder delivery ecosystem.

The measures include a moratorium of one year on all principal repayments as well as interest rate reduction on all applicable CBN intervention facilities from nine to five percent per annum for one year effective 1 March, 2020.

This webinar explores the impact of COVID-19 on foreign migrants and remittance senders in Africa as well as potential responses from governments, development partners and the private sector.

The BoG will continue to assess the possible impact of the pandemic on the domestic economy and is taking the necessary steps to mitigate its impact, to ensure financial and economic stability.