Public health and overcoming the crisis

Al Rai’s Issam Qadamani said that if ministers are asked about plans for their respective ministries for the post-coronavirus phase, each one will answer: “What matters now is people’s health and overcoming the crisis.” This answer will not be accepted for so long, especially because every minister has to take the initiative and prepare an emergency plan to face the repercussions as required from their ministries, said the writer, adding that delaying such plans means prolonging the crisis and the suffering.

All plans that the government “pretends” it has to deal with the crisis in the economic and social sectors are no longer applicable, especially that the factors used for preparing these plans have changed now; the projected economic growth is not the same nor are the budget revenues, tourism returns and expatriates’ remittances, said the columnist.

It is true that the expectations of International Monetary Fund Mission Chief to Jordan Chris Jarvis for the Jordanian economy to recover its growth rates faster than other countries are close to reality, but the fund itself can no longer predict under the rapidly changing facts on the ground, added the writer.

IMF projections show that the entire world will face a big drop in growth rates, where many countries will endure “enormous” decline in their GDPs, said the columnist, adding that there are no proper means so far on how to deal with the problem and alleviate its repercussions.

The government is supposed to have an alternative economic plan to deal with the new damages and the expectations to face an unprecedented and sharp global economic recession, argued the writer.