Tashkent, Uzbekistan, 1 September 2021 - The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), the AAA-rated Multilateral Development Bank of the Muslim world, has launched a new Resilience Index in order to help policymakers create mechanisms that support economic resilience.

The new index was launched during a special session of the 2021 IsDB Group Annual Meetings currently underway in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

H.E. Dr. Muhammad Al Jasser, IsDB President and Chairman of the IsDB Group explained how IsDB was spurred to create the index in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“One of the difficult lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the importance of economic resilience. Our economic systems, today, are globalized and complex. When a shock occurs in one part of the global economy, it is widely felt. We have developed this index to help policymakers among our member countries track their progress in creating more resilient economies,” H.E. Dr. Al Jasser.

During the launch event, Mr. Ilkhom Norkulov, Uzbekistan’s First Deputy Minister for Economic Development and Poverty Reduction, elaborated on some of the mechanisms that can help countries generate greater economic resilience. 

“In Uzbekistan, the COVID-19 pandemic led to significant challenges at the community level, including putting strains on health services, shocks to the labour force, and the economic disruption associated with lockdowns,” Mr. Norkulov noted.

“Working with international partners including IsDB, our government provided targeted financial support to families and businesses while also using the pandemic as an opportunity to encourage uptake of programs related to the transformation of our workforce,” he added. “But these efforts were largely ad-hoc and we are now seeking to develop a better policy toolkit to make the Uzbek economy more resilient.”

The Resilience Index will help policymakers from IsDB’s 57 member countries track whether they are making progress in efforts to increase economic resilience. 

During this year’s annual meetings, the assembled leaders will also be focusing on the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on existing social inequalities. Efforts to support economic resilience are also intended to ensure that fragile and conflict-affected countries are not left behind as the global economic recovery picks up pace.