World Bank warns Pakistan falling into economic recession amid covid-19
South Asian countries are already facing the tumultuous state of economy posing low economic growth for last half century. Amidst the outbreak of coronavirus globally, the region may face worst economic performance, said the world bank report on Sunday (April 12)
The latest report by the World Bank says that Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Maldives may fall into recession due to covid-19. The world bank further added that Pakistan is more vulnerable to the recession due to increased population growth of 1.8 percent which would debilitate the economic growth of the country. The report has also cited that Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanisatan are the densely populated countries due to which they can be next prey to the on going coronavirus in Pakistan. Combiney thee three nations have 1.8 billion population which is vulnerable to the covid-19.
India’s economy, the region’s biggest, is expected to grow 1.5% to 2.8% in the fiscal year that started on April 1. The World Bank has estimated it will grow 4.8% to 5% in the fiscal year that ended on March 31.
Read more: How will the Corona virus affect Pakistan’s economy?
“The green shoots of a rebound that were observable at the end of 2019 have been overtaken by the negative impacts of the global crisis,” the World Bank report said.
The report further added that the measures such as lock down, state of uncertainity, social distancing has hampered the supply chain of food and other bansic necessities to public. Meanwhile, the supply is also much slower compared to other parts of the world.
The World Bank in its latest report also said that the unusual 13 percent price hike of wheat has also interrupted the supply chain in the country. Moreover, the global lender also warned the country that the food prices in coming weeks may surge exponentially to the uncontrollable mounts.
To attenuate the looming challenge to economy currently, the World Bank has called these countries to take measures pertaining to monetary and fiscal policies and also debt relief for the business communities in their respective countries.
