The Prime Minister said this while delivering her inaugural remarks at a virtual conference arranged by the World Economic Forum (WEF) on ‘Enhancing regional cooperation in South Asia to combat Covid-19 related impact on its economies’ in the evening. Sheikh Hasina said it is unknown how long the pandemic will persist, but it has already affected the economies. “We need to bring economy, business and society on track, support people to get over trauma and fear, and revive vital sectors,” she said. She said the world is already battling climate change. “Now, coronavirus is challenging our existence. At the current level of globalisation, insulating one country from the rest of the world is not possible and isolation policy won’t work anymore,” she added.
“As the world goes through such a complex scenario, we’ll need different kinds of approaches,” the Prime Minister said, placing five approaches. The world will need new thinking on human well-being, tackling inequality, supporting poor and getting back economies to pre-Covid levels as poverty and inequality within and among societies will increase rapidly, she said. “In the last one decade, we lifted half of our poor out of poverty. Many of them may now slide back.”
Sheikh Hasina also underscored the need for robust global leadership from G7, G20 and OECD. “The UN-led multilateral system should step forward. I must commend Prof Schwab for identifying infectious diseases as a key risk in the 2020 Global Risks Report. So, the forum and UN should mobilise and lead governments and global businesses on focused policy discourse. I would be happy to join any such initiative.”
Mentioning that they are already witnessing transformation in global businesses, work and manufacturing, she said in post-Covid times, new norms, standards and practices will emerge. “We’ve already seen many global brands within supply chains are not acting responsibly. So, we need to devise strategies and practical support measures so that countries like Bangladesh can adapt.”
Noting that migrant workers are passing very difficult situation, including joblessness, which is also risking South Asian economies, the Prime Minister underlined the importance of a meaningful global strategy to share the burden and responsibilities. She said they have effectively used some of the digital tools and technologies like artificial intelligence and mobile phones to trace infections during this pandemic and put emphasis on fast developing innovative solutions in various sectors to better prepare for the future.
Talking about Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina said the country has taken a policy focusing on ensuring the GDP growth momentum by gearing up domestic demand, enhanced competitiveness and poverty reduction. “Our policy mechanisms have focused on ensuring the GDP growth momentum by gearing up domestic demand, enhanced competitiveness and poverty eradication. In this regard, our main interventions will be on increased public expenditure, introduced fiscal packages, expanded social safety net programmes and increased money supply,” she said.
Noting that the government has already announced a US$ 11.60-billion package for various sectors of the country to keep the economy moving, the Prime Minister said the primary focus of this package is manufacturing and service sectors, agriculture and social safety net facilities. “This support package is equivalent to 3.3 percent of the country’s GDP.”
As of now, Bangladesh has sufficient food stock. But ensuring food security in case of a prolonged crisis will be a big challenge for all, especially for the South Asian countries, she said. “Our agriculture is being adversely affected due to the disruption in supply chains. Around US$ 3.5 billion have been allocated for agriculture,” Sheikh Hasina said.
She further said, “We’re going for direct cash transfer to almost 50 million people. Six hundred thousand metric tons of food grains have so far been allocated to succour the poor and low-income people.” The government has also included 1.1 million Rohingya refugees in its overall strategy, the Prime Minister said.
Citing that the entire world is fighting against an invisible and unknown enemy called Covid-19, she said the first such patient was detected in Bangladesh on March 8. “However, we’ve taken steps to prevent the spread of the virus from the very beginning of January,” she said.
A 41-day holiday is in force bringing almost three-fourth of the country under lockdown, Sheikh Hasina said. “The government measures could keep the fatalities still at low with 127 deaths and 4,186 infections in the last 47 days.”
WEF President Borge Brende delivered the welcome remarks and Regional Director for South-East Asia of the World Health Organization (WHO) Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh made a special briefing on the COVID-19 situation at the conference.
Head of Shaping the Future of Health and Healthcare of the WEF Arnaud Bernaert provided important insights over the coronavirus situation from the Forum’s Healthcare Community.
The participants were members of the Regional Action Group for the South Asia who shared their views participating in the open discussion at the virtual conference. -UNB
