Washington Post: The time has come to cash out our pandemic bonds
Editorial Board

“…[Almost three years ago, the World Bank] launched a specialized pandemic bond and derivatives fund that would pay a handsome interest rate to investors, on the understanding that investors would lose money if the bonds were needed to fight a spreading disease. The pandemic bonds have yet to pay out. Now is the time. … The World Bank’s Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility grew out of the Ebola pandemic in 2014-2015 … The PEF has two channels: one an insurance window that would pay out from the bonds and derivatives, designed to help the poorest countries cope with a cross-border, large-scale outbreak of certain diseases; the other, a cash window for containment of illnesses not eligible for the first. The cash window has been used for the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Now it’s time to open the PEF insurance window. … Covid-19 has caused more than 3,000 deaths around the world, and the number is growing. The maximum potential payout from the PEF insurance window is $195.83 million. Investors will suffer, but they knew the risks. The World Bank should open the window as soon as possible” (3/2).

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