The advent of COVID-19 pandemic and the need of actions for a secured economic future

ECOFIN
Topic B
The Kingdom of Belgium
Delegate’s name: Bui Nguyen Ngoc Lan
Pandemic, according to WHO, is the “world wide spread of new disease”. It is often defined as an
epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents
or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of people. Throughout human history, there have been a
number of contagious diseases for instance smallpox and tuberculosis. The most fatal pandemic in
recorded history was the Black Death (also known as The Plague), which killed an estimated 75–200
million people in the 14th century[1]. Currently, we have been witnessing another worldwide epidemic,
which is caused by the “ severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 ( SARS-CoV-2), called the
COVID-19. Third kind of infectious illness have exerted its influences on an unprecedented scale. The
disease is originated from Wuhan China, specifically from a group of people who have an unidentified
pneumonia. Existing in such a condensed and metropolitan city have hugely contributed to the fast
wide-spread of the virus. In 2004, the last case was found and at that time, China was heavily criticized
for their unprofessional treating methods[2]. Scientists, however, have foreseen the cases since there
have been discovery the new terms of virus based on the Chinese bats ‘community in 2015.
Unfortunately, in late 2019 and early 2020, the pandemic have spread out first in China and then
followed by many Asian countries and finally come to European nations. More than anything else,
there are two main factors that are heavily affected: people’s health and the world economy. In terms
of health and lifestyle. It is obviously affected and lead to many detrimental consequences like high
fatal rate in those worst victim of Covid-19 like China, the US and many others European countries.
In terms of the world economy, in order to hinder widespread outbreaks, lockdown results in
manufacturing plants closures and reduction in movement, which affect overall trade flow and all
economic activities. Supply shortage are expected to affect a number of sectors due to panic buying,
increased usage of goods to fight the pandemic, and disruption to factories and logistics in mainland
China. There have been instances of price gouging[3].There have been widespread reports of shortages
of pharmaceuticals with many areas seeing panic buying and consequent shortages of food and other
essential grocery items. The technology industry, in particular, has been warning about delays to
shipments of electronic goods. On discussing some alarming consequences that have been caused,
nations all over the world have tried their best to tackle the problems.
On witnessing the pressing issue, we cannot deny the numerous consequences that the COVID-19
pandemic has brought about as the pandemic have already attack the core of the country’s economic
vulnerability as a results of the increment in custom tariffs stemming from the US- Chain trade war.
The United Nations has mobilized the full capacity of the UN system through its 131 country teams
serving 162 countries and territories, to support national authorities in developing public health
preparedness and response plans to the COVID-19 crisis. Over the next 12 to 18 months, the socio-
economic response will be one of one of three critical components of the UN’s COVID-19 response,
alongside the health response, led by WHO, and the Global Humanitarian Response Plan. As the
technical lead for the socio-economic response, UNDP and its country offices worldwide are working
under the leadership of the UN Resident Coordinators, and in close collaboration with specialized UN
agencies, UN Regional Economic Commissions and IFIs, to assess the socio-economic impacts of the
COVID-19 pandemic on economies and communities. The assessment reports available on this site
contain the preliminary findings of regional and country analyses.
Having a more detailed look, Belgium is considered to be among the worst victims of the Covid-19
pandemic. Fortunately, thanks to the well- prepared of the Belgium government, its economy is said
to be affected inconsiderably by the ongoing pandemic. However, prediction have shown that if the
pandemic prolonged, things would have turn bad for Belgian economy. The Belgian economy is highly
integrated in global supply chains which are disrupted by the virus outbreak. At the same time, experts
expect the coronavirus to have only a temporary impact in the first half of the year. Hence, they see
Belgian economic growth recovering from the second half of the year and reaching 1.2% again in
2021[4].Although the corona virus hits the Belgian economy hard because of its strong exposure to
international risks combined with its already weak consumer confidence, economists indicate this case
is serious but not dramatic. The UN have also come up with many possible solutions include two main
of them related to the economy : deliver a global response that leave no-one behind and adoption of
policies that address the devastating socioeconomic, humanitarian and human rights aspects of the
crisis. As being not only one of the worst victims of the pandemic but also own a minor economy with
a comprehensive dependence on international trade flows, we do appreciate these actions as they are
practical to the present status and it is obviously help recovering and maintaining the international
trade flows in the world.
In terms of Belgium, there are some possible measurements that are highly recommended to tackle the
issue without unease. First of all, the nation will apply the extension of the deadline to pay social
contributions especially for those business who are forced to closed. We also invoke temporary
unemployment as a results of “ force majeure” which means that employees will benefit from a
temporary increase of their allowance in the event of temporary unemployment provided that the
eventual net salary will not be higher than the regular net salary should employee have worked. And
last but not least, it is granted that pharmacists are encouraged not having their proper excise
authorization (which lead to price gouging). However social authorities do urge many medical
manufactures insists producing various types of sanitizers to benefit from an excise duty exemption.
Moving into larger scale, the kingdom of Belgium thinks that this is the top altering time of everyone
to be taken serious about the diseases and nations from all over the world must take actions. The UN
and the WHO should encourage nations where are inconsiderably affected to send first-aid and human
resources like experienced nurses and doctors to those countries where the pandemic become over
controlled. Moreover, countries who are in a debt should be given the expansion of the deadline to pay
their debt during the pandemic as there is also economic crisis at the same time. These actions are
believed to tighten the diplomacy and the relationship among nations.
[1] https://www.wired.com/2001/10/black-deaths-gene-code-cracked/
[2] https://web.archive.org/web/20200102044602/https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/china-
probes-pneumonia-outbreak-for-sars-links-state-media
[3] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/14/technology/coronavirus-purell-wipes-amazon-sellers.html
[4] https://www.kbc.com/en/economics/publications/coronavirus-strongly-affects-belgian-economy-
due-to-international-chain-reaction-and-weakening-confidence.html