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| Trade and Coronavirus | | | Deepika Badyal, Sharad Sharma | 4/17/2020 10:45:52 PM |
| The whole trade world is on a massive lockdown due to the outbreak of coronavirus. The arteries of international trade are choking up. There is restlessness amongst the trading agencies because China is the world's second largest economy and the main producer of the spare parts. The World Health Organization has also declared that it is a matter of public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). Emergency of this sort would obviously prompt trade restrictions. According to the provisions World Trade Organization, countries may take necessary measures to restrict trade in the pursuit of national health.
An economy is like an object in motion because a lot of things work in connection. It involves supply chains, transport, shipping, movement of goods etc. The other way of looking at things is that the whole world is interconnected in a sense that a lot of nations are dependent on each other for various essentials. China being the emerging sound economy is regulating the trade in various countries on account of its cheaper goods especially in food grains and electronic sector. It also supplies the major workforce to the various countries. Since China is a vital facilitator of the intra-Asian and global supply chains, a closure of the biggest manufacturing hub is going to seriously impact the world trade. Should the pandemic entrenches more into the nations, it will be harder to move goods around the world. Let's try to understand the whole scenario by breaking it down. This is not a first time in the history of humans that a deadly disease such as cornavirus has come up. If we go back a little we can count many such diseases from ebola to anthrax, bubonic plague to HIV, and a new entrant in this list is coronavirus. All these diseases fall into the category of zoonotic diseases. Zoonotic diseases are transmitted from animals to humans. The COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan is apparently believed to have been originated from wild bats. So far it has affected around 2 million people around the globe and is alarming because it is posing a great threat to plants and animals alike. It is noteworthy to mention that three quarters of zoonotic diseases are transmitted to humans. The last century has seen an expansion in the cases of human encroachment into the wildlife habitat, exposing people and livestock to this new wildlife habitat than ever before. But at the same time if humans do not stop hunting wildlife, we ought to come in contact with new environments, increasing the likelihood of exposure to new viruses.
The emergence of the new virus has not only halted the economic growth but has also affected the mortality rate of the human beings. It has had serious effect on the tourism industry as well. After China, Europe is now the new Epicentre of the global pandemic. But every cloud has a silver lining. The outbreak has provided a chance for the pharmaceutical industry to develop and provide a cure for the disease. Especially for the country like India, to maintain its safety standard to augment its economy by taking up the challenge and fill the vacuum in the supply chain. Falling crude oil prices, coronavirus pandemic acceleration, disruption of global supply chains have fuelled the risk of recession. Therefore it is causing a panic in the financial markets globally. Amidst all the negativity of virus, it is evident that the economic activity will be spurring outside China because the major companies will be looking for new investment locations. Certain economies can actually benefit from the pandemic crisis. That may be cold comfort but it is important to not lose ground. The Covid-19 pandemic shows the significance of agility and adaptability in an ever changing global scenario. |
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