Maintaining Fiscal Sustainability during the Pandemic Crisis

Managing a novel but highly contagious virus that rapidly evolved into a pandemic is the hardest job faced by world leaders in recent years. At first, most countries did not recognise the magnitude of the catastrophe created by coronavirus disease (COVID-19), so responses differed widely. Since the world was last hit by a pandemic more than 100 years ago, current world leaders were inexperienced in managing such a calamity. Indeed, the whole modern system – driven by technology, creativity, wealth, and interconnected people – appears to be unprepared. COVID-19 has disrupted almost all aspects of our lives. Even in the health sector, the almost exclusive focus on the pandemic has affected non-COVID-19 patients. In fragile and conflict-affected areas, disruptions in assistance and support have affected millions of people in vulnerable groups. In other areas, the world has paused temporarily.