The response of local governments in financing related to the COVID-19 pandemic: A literature review.

Abstract

Not only the Central Government, local governments also have a role to shape, adapt and provide a holistic response to the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the most important actions taken by local governments during the COVID-19 pandemic is to make immediate, timely, and targeted decisions for the right institutions in order to give an effective response. Regarding financing, the main point is to focus on increasing support and accelerating fiscal transfer funds to local governments in an effort handle COVID- 19. This paper wants to observe the empirical practice of local governments in various countries in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in terms of financing various programs and activities related to the COVID-19 response. Literature was obtained from several databases, namely PubMed, ScienceDirect, Cochrane Library and Google Scholar. Of the 783 articles obtained at the start of the search, in the end only 11 articles met the inclusion and exclusion criteria of this study. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is aparrent in all parts of the world, including in countries’ local governments, that forced them to carry out various efforts of mitigating the severity of the pandemic. Although the detailes of local governments budgeting were not found in most of the articles studied in this literature review, it is sufficient to provide a fairly significant picture of the function of local government in tackling the spread of COVID-19. Significance for public health COVID-19 has been declared a pandemic in March 2020. The impact of this COVID-19 pandemic covers all sectors of life. The financing required is not only for the provision of health services, but also includes the costs of risk communication and community empowerment, social protection, enforcement of regulations related to infection prevention and control, continuation of essential services and measures to ensure the survival of the local economy. COVID-19 demonstrates the importance of fast and effective local intervention. The effectiveness of the response to COVID-19 varies widely at the local government level, with different approaches taken. Any measure related to COVID-19 requires resources and has a fiscal aspect. To finance the response to this pandemic, local governments rely on three main sources: Regional Original Revenue, Balancing Funds, and Regional Loans. This study wants to take lessons learned on public health policies related to financing by local governments in dealing with COVID-19.