COVID-19 policy responses: reflections on governmental financial resilience in South Asia

Abstract

PurposeFirst, the paper examines the short-term fiscal and budgetary responses of the South Asian governments to the COVID-19 pandemic. Next, it brings out the implications of such responses, focusing on India, Nepal and Sri Lanka.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on multiple secondary data sources, including the viewpoints of experts and government officials. Data are analysed using the ideas of financial resilience.FindingsSouth Asian governments' response to the pandemic shows a gap in understanding the magnitude of the problem and in developing financial resilience. This paper points out the importance of avoiding austerity, becoming more cautious in accepting lending conditions, rethinking public sector accountability and revitalising mutual collaboration through SAARC for developing financial resilience, both at individual country and regional levels.Originality/valueThe study offers some insights on policy implications for South Asian governments in terms of building financial resilience to deal with future crises.

Guest editorial

“…Catastrophically, many global states have failed to handle the magnitude of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) disaster, as their public institutions found struggling to “adapt” its existing institutional orders and logics to face this “new normalcy”. The external shocks of COVID-19 thus created many governmental governance, accountability and financial resilience issues within emerging economies and highlight the need to develop a collaborative approach at the regional level particularly in developing financial resilience across the region (Upadhaya et al , 2020). The future accounting, accountability and development research in emerging economies therefore need to focus their attention into this “new normalcy” of post-COVID context and explore the challenges these countries would be facing when rebuilding their public and private institutions to suit with new global and national political economic orders.…”

Budgetary responses to a global pandemic: international experiences and lessons for a sustainable future

“…Because of these measures, many countries, including those that had strong fiscal discipline and sound budgetary balances before the COVID-19 crisis, anticipate a significant jump in the level of indebtedness. This development has led to rising concerns about fiscal sustainability in the long run, especially among developing countries (Adhikari et al, 2020;Bashir and Ashfaq, 2020;Demirag et al, 2020;de Villiers et al, 2020;Dzigbede andPathak, 2020, Ejiogu et al, 2020;Elkhashen et al, 2020;Jose et al, 2020) Only a few jurisdictions studied in this SI, such as China (Li and Wu, 2020), Estonia (Raudla and Douglas, 2020), Russia (Vakulenko et al, 2020) and Taiwan (Kuo et al, 2020) were able to remain fiscally intact.…”

Resilience Meets Sustainable and Spiritual Background Into an Initial Review for the New Normal After the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Themes such as governance and ethics are once again essential for maintaining the credibility of organizations that reflect the behavior of their leaders, who direct the company's strategic movement in the market (Upadhaya et al, 2020).…”