New Humanitarian: COVID-19 aid funding: The many pots and pitfalls
“Economists say it will take trillions of dollars to soften the impact of coronavirus in the developing world. Money is needed to fund welfare for millions of adults and children facing destitution — or death — from the crisis, through sickness, unemployment, or inflation. Below, we summarize some of the major givers, and which agencies and countries have called for what support in the humanitarian (short-term) aid sector. But tracking aid funding is notoriously hard, so check out the second section too — on the many pitfalls in the counting…” (Parker, 6/3).

Reuters: Debt relief for poorest countries could extend beyond 2020, G7 says
“Group of Seven finance ministers on Wednesday said a debt relief initiative for the world’s poorest countries could be extended beyond the end of the year to help deal with economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. … The statement followed a videoconference meeting of the ministers amid warnings that low-income and emerging market economies will need more than the International Monetary Fund’s initial estimate of $2.5 trillion to weather the crisis…” (Shalal, 6/3).

Science: NIH grapples with rush to claim billions in pandemic research funds
“For the second time in just over 10 years, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is scrambling to hand out billions of dollars in emergency research funding and scientists are rushing to get a piece of the action—even as some confusion and concerns abound. But as in 2009, when NIH faced the tricky task of quickly distributing some $10 billion in research funds to help the United States recover from the Great Recession, the agency appears to be finding its footing as it moves to award the additional $3.6 billion Congress has provided so far to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic…” (Kaiser, 6/3).