The WTO expects a sharp drop-off in global trade. But India must not withdraw inwards. Instead, we must raise our competitiveness through reforms in preparation for a recovery By now, there is little disagreement left over the scale of the global economic crisis caused by the covid-19 pandemic.
It is widely expected to be bigger than anything most of us have seen in our lifetimes. Some forecast a redux of America’s Great Depression of the 1930s, or worse.
Commerce across the high seas has also got convulsed, and the World Trade Organization (WTO) predicts that global trade could fall by 13-32% this year on account of disruptions and all the turmoil.