Bridges, not barriers key to combating virus

Over 3,600 lives have been lost. Almost as catastrophic is the impact on the business sector. The Asian Development Bank last week anticipated the global economy to suffer losses to the tune of $77-347 bn. This translates to a 0.1-0.4 per cent shave off the global GDP. IATA has predicted airline passenger revenue in 2020 to fall by $113 bn.

Closer home, a recent UN report pegs the trade impact on India at $348 million. The most-affected economies include the European Union ($15.6 bn), the US ($5.8 bn), Japan ($5.2 bn), South Korea ($3.8 bn), Taiwan ($2.6 bn) and Vietnam ($2.3 bn). Such alarming figures on the anvil beg the question – how long would it take for the global economy to recover from this setback? And more importantly, how do world leaders position their policies to ensure that a semblance of normalcy or ‘business as usual’ returns at the earliest?

One of the biggest pain points has been the increasing reliance of the US and Europe on China – both as a customer, and as a supplier over the last two decades. Top executives are hoping the threat recedes by the end of June, failing which layoffs, and pared down investments could become the order of the day, month, and quite possibly, the latter half year. Take for instance, United Airlines which even went so far as to postpone a March meeting until September 2020 citing its inability to have a productive conversation about long-term strategy in the current business milieu.

US President Donald Trump had last week spoken about imposing tighter border controls to keep the coronavirus at bay. However, health experts have cautioned that closing borders only diverts resources from essential activities such as protection of health workers, beefing up health systems and enhancing disease surveillance.

It might be prudent to follow the lead of the World Health Organization (WHO), which called upon country leaders to set aside differences and work in tandem – mobilising every resource at one’s disposal to arrive at a cure for this global pandemic.