As the world battles the Corona virus, it is clear what needs to be done to combat its spread: Testing, Testing, Testing; and Lockdowns. The costs of testing were always known. Costs of lockdowns are becoming increasingly apparent.
In developing countries like Kenya, a bulk of the workforce is engaged in daily work and earns day-to-day. Unlike richer countries in Europe and North America, they cannot afford to shut down economic activity as a way of combating the Corona pandemic. On the contrary, long shutdowns will make much of the population more vulnerable, since they will impede people's ability to access income, nutrition, immunity, and health services. Besides, with its large fiscal deficit, the amount of money Kenya can borrow from international markets is limited. And there isn't a lot of international aid going around at the moment.
So what are Kenya's options? Or India's/Bangladesh's/Morocco's/Vietnam's/ other developing countries' for that matter. Kenya-based Policy Analyst Suvojit Chattopadhyay (Adam Smith International) weighs in, in this interview. According to him, developing economies cannot escape a certain amount of hit. The focus should be on minimizing the economic impact of the pandemic, and on making a long-term recovery plan. Besides, this could be an opportunity to bring in long-term changes to the public sector, and identify and support businesses of the future.