Benazir Ahmed Siddique :
South-Asia is the most densely populated region of the world (1.9 billion people, 25pc of global population), with more than 98pc of South Asians living in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. In common with residents of many other lower-middle income countries, the people of South Asia face multiple challenges, including high rates of both communicable and non-communicable disease, fragile health and education systems, food and financial insecurity, and limited formal economic or social support. Together, these characteristics are anticipated to make South Asian countries more vulnerable to major health and societal challenges such as COVID-19. South Asian countries have poor health care systems. Afghanistan has only 2.8 physicians per 10,000 people, Bhutan 3.8, Bangladesh 5.3, and Nepal 6.5. Even India, which has one of the strongest health systems in the region, has only 7.8 physicians per 10,000 people. The first case of COVID-19 in South Asia was identified in January 2020, shortly before COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the WHO. In response, South Asian countries implemented a range of highly restrictive national control measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19. These included closures of schools and non-essential workplaces, public transport bans, education campaigns for individual level behavioural interventions, isolation of symptomatic individuals, and contact tracing. Furthermore, there is increasing evidence that national lockdowns may have adverse effects for physical and mental health, children’s education, behaviors relevant to chronic disease, as well as severe social and financial consequences.
The dramatic spread of COVID-19 has threatened human lives, disrupted livelihoods, and affected trade, economy and businesses across South Asia. Although all countries in the world have faced difficulties due to Covid-19, South Asian countries in particular have had to deal with a more challenging situation due to their large population, weak health facilities, high poverty rates, low socio-economic conditions, poor social protection systems, limited access to water and sanitation, and inadequate living space, necessary to maintain physical distancing and take other required measures to contain this pandemic. Analysis revealed that Covid-19 is likely to affect economic growth, increase fiscal deficit and monetary burden, increase the risks of macroeconomic instability, decrease migration and remittance, reduce income from travel and tourism, and result in dwindling micro-small and medium industries and informal businesses. This is likely to deepen poverty and increase unemployment and the risks of hunger and food insecurity. If not addressed properly, this may reinforce existing inequalities, break social harmony, and increase tension and turbulence. The economic and social costs of the Covid-19 outbreak are therefore likely to be significant and long-lasting in South Asia. The South Asian economies are likely to shrink for the first time in 4 decades.
Corona virus is still spreading and it is difficult to predict when it will be completely contained. The unprecedented challenge posed by the Covid-19 pandemic calls for very urgent and decisive actions to ensure that people’s lives are saved, livelihoods are protected and the economy recovers. The Covid-19 outbreak has caused high costs on human health and economic activities, and poses the most adverse effects on livelihoods of the poor and the most vulnerable communities. Since the coverage of social security system is minimal or absent altogether in most of the South Asian countries, the government should manage to give some sort of social security facilities to the poorest population, more specifically when they lose their informal employment opportunities. Improving saving habits of the poor and providing access to banking services would, for instance, provide safety nets during times of crisis. As health, environment and social issues are interconnected, concerted efforts are required to mitigate and recover from the damages brought by the Covid-19 on our societies and economies. Governments need to prioritize their activities for short, medium, and long-term. Regional and global cooperation is also necessary to address the ripple effects of Covid-19 on different societies. The countries of South Asia must act collectively to address their challenges and to create favourable conditions for economic recovery. Importantly, innovative strategies and approaches are needed to address the coronavirus challenges. The governments of the South Asian countries may consider the following policy measures (Plan for an economic recovery from Covid-19, Develop roadmap for achieving short, medium, and long-term goals, Orchestrate the fiscal, monetary and development intervention, Redouble the efforts of social protection, boosting economic activity and investing in job creation in areas where poor and lowly skilled workers can participate and get benefits, Promote regional cooperation to facilitate expedient cross-border movement of essential goods and services including medicines, medical equipment, foods, and other essential items, Review and revise the policy priorities by withdrawing subsidies from fossil fuels and providing subsidies to green recovery, improving health facilities, boosting economic activities, and focusing on programs that alleviate poverty and vulnerabilities) to mitigate the negative impacts of the pandemic on the poor and most vulnerable sections of the society and to promote economic recovery.
Different countries already adopted different strategies for gradual opening of the economies and providing financial support to priority sectors to revive economic activities. Government of India has adopted a measure of zoning the country based on the prevalence of the corona virus cases to relax the lockdown and gradually restart economic activities in areas where the virus is absent or low in number, yet taking stringent measures in the hotspot areas. India’s central bank has introduced measures to increase liquidity to increase access to credit for the pharmaceutical, construction and tourism industries. Bangladesh government is providing 50-70pc subsidy to farmers for buying harvesters to address the challenges of labor shortage in paddy harvesting. The governments of Bhutan and Nepal have also rolled out different measures to stimulate SMEs.
(Mr. Siddique is a social activist).
