Online session for students on policy measures in wake of COVID-19 pandemic

Online session for students on policy measures in wake of COVID-19 pandemic

April 29, 2020: Director Macroeconomic Policy and Financing for Development Division at UN-ESCAP, Dr. Hamza Malik conducted an online session with Assistant Professor Dr. Aadil Nakhoda's students, in which he discussed the policy measures in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Commencing the session, the speaker spoke about how the virus has completely upended societies and caused havoc in global economy. He mentioned UNESCAP's active engagement in a lot of policy work and its efforts to help countries overcome the COVID-19 shock. The initial policy measures were issued in mid-March, under which the organization tried to distinguish between short term and long term policy measures. One of the first policy measures was to give priority to people over economy. However, in Pakistan, the immediate response was not very satisfactory, primarily due to confusion about the nature of the pandemic.

Dr. Malik stressed upon the need of strict measures by giving examples of Singapore and South Korea, where the virus has been controlled.

For Pakistan, Dr. Malik suggested that the contraction in aggregate demand has been substantial and said the country's fiscal position is worrisome. He argued that an expansionary fiscal policy is the need of the hour for the country. Pakistan currently needs injection of liquidity in order to counter the reduction in aggregate demand. Not only that, but when data is analysed, it is evident that investment in health systems is very low in the country. UN's research has shown that countries which have high investment in healthcare systems have been in a much better shape amid the crisis. It was also suggested for Pakistan to shift its priority towards ramping up the healthcare budget and moving towards sustainable growth strategies, which are aligned with UN's Sustainable Development Goals.

As a closing remark, Dr. Malik said that while economies are recovering from the pandemic, it is important for the governments to make sure that we don't go back to the old ways of production. Subsidies on carbon emitting production processes need to be reduced and the focus should be shifted toward a greener and sustainable growth.