The vast majority of Covid-19 recovery funds have gone to big corporations instead of toward welfare, small firms, or those working in the informal economy, according to the first major analysis of public bailout funds disbursed in developing countries during the pandemic.

The FTC Tracker Report and partners analysed data from a total of nine countries: Kenya, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. The report found a staggering 63 percent of pandemic-related funds went on average to big businesses in eight of the nine surveyed countries, while only a quarter of the funds went to social protection.