Covid-19 to leave deep scars on LDCs, says ICC Bangladesh
The outbreak of Covid-19 will have devastating economic effects on least developed countries (LDCs) as economic activities have been slowed down significantly, said the International Chamber of Commerce-Bangladesh (ICC Bangladesh).
At the same time, as developed economies slip into recession, it will result in falling commodity prices and causing a double squeeze on export earnings of LDCs.
Countries all over the world, including Bangladesh, are racing to slow the spread of the virus through testing and treating patients, enforcing lockdowns, carrying out contact tracing, limiting travel, quarantining citizens and cancelling large gatherings.
The pandemic is moving like a wave, one that may yet crash on those least able to cope.
"The longer-term consequences of this pandemic may arise from mass unemployment and business failures," the ICC Bangladesh also said.
According to the chamber, some industries, such as tourism and aviation, would certainly face hardships.
It has created an unprecedented level of risk, causing investors to suffer significant losses in a very short period of time.
On the other hand, the necessity for social distancing has led to cancellation of an enormous number of events, ravaged business travel and closed businesses, restaurants and shopping malls, resulting in an outsized negative demand shock.
The world is facing a severe and acute public health emergency and economic threat due to the Covid-19 global pandemic, which originated in Wuhan province of China last December.
World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11 officially declared the coronavirus (Covid-19) as a global pandemic.
With this announcement, financial markets across the world started to tumble.
The outbreak has also led major institutions and banks to cut their forecasts for the global economy, the chamber said in its news bulletin editorial for the January-March quarter.
Covid-19 is the defining global health crisis and the greatest economic challenge the world has faced since World War II and the Spanish flu, also known as the 1918 flu pandemic, which lasted for 15 months.
It infected 500 million people – about a third of the world's population at that time and caused the death of some 50 million.
The descendants of the 1918 virus remain today. As endemic influenza viruses, they cause significant mortality each year.
The world has made so much of development since then, but unfortunately the health sector has been the most neglected.
The crisis highlighted the need for urgent action to cushion the pandemic's health and economic consequences, protect vulnerable populations and set the stage for a lasting recovery.
For emerging markets and developing countries, it is critical to strengthen public health systems, address challenges posed by informality and implement reforms that will support strong and sustainable growth once the health crisis abates.
It is still too early to properly assess the extent of the negative impacts the virus will have on the world economy. Since the situation is evolving every day, economic estimates can only provide a magnitude of the impact.
The actual ramifications will depend on the extent of the spread and length of the duration of the outbreak and how quickly policymakers can take action to mitigate the health and economic damage.
Covid-19 is both the biggest health crisis and most uncertain threat to the world's economy. Many highly developed countries are taking emergency plans to deal with economic disruptions surfacing abruptly.
From an economic perspective, the key issue is not just the number of cases of Covid-19, but the level of disruption to economies from containment measures.
There is a lot of uncertainty over what will happen in the post-coronavirus world. Experts think that a new world would emerge which is very much different and unknown.
The world leaders have to come together to save humanity and agree on spending more resources on development of healthcare and medicines to fight such a pandemic in the future.
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