COVID – 19 pandemic and global economy

"One of the main things we've learned in the past months about #COVID19 is that the faster all cases are found, tested, isolated and cared for, the harder we make it for the virus to spread. This principle will save lives and mitigate the economic impact of the pandemic." – Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of World Health Organization, Apr 15, 20201 Dear Editor, Katole assesses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy in his review article published in November 2023 issue of the Journal. There, he discusses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on industries, small- and medium-sized businesses, the food and education sectors, the health sector and tourism, and finally, jobs (related) social protection. The author has deep insight into the diverse fields, discovers and writes true stories as these unfolded at the beginning of the scourge, and highlights the way forward in the review. I admire the writer for taking the side of the marginalized while emphasizing the destructive nature of the pandemic in the write-up, which has data from July 8, 2020. So, presumably, the article belongs to that era.2 Nevertheless, there are some points of disagreement, too, which I want to underscore here with reasoning. The author accurately captures the point of joblessness in the first year of the pandemic and its effects on other aspects of the economy, viz., school education and consumption patterns. Nonetheless, although consumption of certain services decreased in that era, e.g. tourism; utilization of others actually increased, e.g. sales of electronic devices and food-delivery services.3 e-Commerce got a big boost during the period.4 Amazon, an online shopping portal and service provider for home delivery of goods, became Wall Street's biggest winner.5 Financial analysts and market watchers wrote op-eds and opinion pieces on various platforms then, that COVID-19 pandemic gave a big boost to online companies and start-ups.6 Therefore, what scenario emerged then was that although retail and brick-and-mortar shops suffered setbacks, virtual sales jumped in the era. Resultantly, while small firms providing offline services, e.g. eateries, faced huge losses, owners hosted online on various apps got good dividends. As a result of the scenario, while the poor got poorer due to lockdowns and various supply-chain disruptions, the rich got richer as the world moved online. The fallout of the alteration was a rise in inequality.7 Implication in the post-COVID world is that the rich should be taxed more than the poor. Wealth tax may generate enough resources to build infrastructure that benefit all.8 Resource-crunch governments need funds in the face of low GDP (Gross Domestic Product), and taxing the profit-makers of the pandemic may bring some stability to a world marred by conflicts and geopolitical tensions.9 Under the heading of 'Impact of COVID-10 pandemic on jobs (related) social protection', the author indicates (then) a fall in GDP and states that that is a reflection of low federal government spending. Nonetheless, to counter the challenge, governments worldwide (then) increased spending, provided stimulus, and hiked borrowing.10 The extent to which the measures softened the blow varied and is a topic for debate. But we need to realize that economists detected the challenge and tried to stabilize the financial markets to reduce human suffering. Financial support and sponsorship Nil. Conflicts of interest There are no conflicts of interest.