By Christiana Ioannou
The pandemic is still looming across continents, and reports of infections are still rising. This is why every nation of the world keeps putting protocols and measures to reduce the spread of the infection and manage those infected already medically. Both medical and social methods are used to keep COVID in check. After a prolonged lockdown since it started, many nations’ sectors were affected, especially the economies.
Similarly, there seems to be no speedy recovery from this deadly disease because more people are getting infected by it, and many more may still be. With various measures given to help curb the situation, the evident one is the lockdown. The question is not about when the lockdown should end or when the pandemic will end, but rather if the economies will survive the prolonged lockdown until summer and how the after-effect will look.
Flights are being cancelled and controlled, private organizations are retrenching workers, even remunerations are slashed to accommodate the economic meltdown, and international activities are on hold so much that the whole of the economy is shut down since the pandemic. Because of the economy’s state, inflation is inevitable as product prices doubles and the cost of living increases drastically. Unless practical measures are taken to help reduce the pandemic’s effect on the economy, the economy may shutdown.
The After Effects
Because of the reduced economic activity during COVID, there is low circulation, which means that funds are almost not available to the general public. Grants, loans, capital, stock market, and money market are limited or unavailable. Farmers, investors, and business people find it hard to access sufficient funds for trading.
Another significant effect of the pandemic is seen in the demand-pull. Products are scarce, and demand is rising because of the shortage in production during the lockdown. Many have lost their jobs, and the need for strategic planning is eminent.
Emergency fund and funding strategies must be put in place to salvage the economic situation to minimize the pandemic’s impact on the economy and the citizens.