Title: Effects of COVID-19 on Papua New Guinea’s food economy: A multi-market simulation analysis
Abstract: Key Policy Messages Urban households, especially the poor, are particularly vulnerable to shocks related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Lower economic activity in urban areas, increases in marketing costs due to domestic trade disruptions, and 30 percent higher imported rice prices combine to lower urban incomes by almost 15 percent. Rural household incomes, affected mainly by reduced urban demand and market disruptions, fall by only about 4 percent.Nonetheless, calorie consumption for the rural poor and non-poor falls by 5.5 and 4.2 percent, respectively.