Introduction

Our living and livelihood have a significant influence on globalization. However, today the health condition of our beloved world is not sound. COVID-19 has debilitated our cosmos with some infectious poison. However, before the pandemic, globalization was already in recoil. Now that trend looks set to accelerate. We all are looking at the diminished world in many ways that we are looking at; it is a world of globalization. Today’s globalized trading system has grown to rely on long and complex supply chains from smart-phones to toys, but the pandemic played havoc with them.

Furthermore, several studies and the worlds’ experience have considered both travels of people and trade of goods as significant disease swell indicators. Moreover, globalization and the economic wheel of the world bear a connection. Following this, globalization is one of the most dominant disease transmissions in this regard. COVID-19 has brought anathema to the globalized and interconnected world. The challenges of COVID have led to a dark period, both in terms of human suffering and the dilapidated world trade condition.

Impacts of COVID-19 on Globalization and Economy

  • Fragile Channels for Globalization

Empty streets become the new normal for the COVID-19 pandemic. The globe has abysmally distorted since the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. Globalization has led to the disease’s stretch due to transporting channels like road, air, and ship travel. In 2019, 4.5 billion passengers traveled by airlines and are reduced to 2.2 billion during the pandemic (Mazareanu, 2020). Major airlines have imposed travel bans and reported waning stock value. Experts have documented cruise ships as a hub for this epidemic.

Moreover, 800 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed to have originated in cruise ship settings (Moriarty, 2020).  The stocks of cruise line companies have been waning, resulting in layoffs and distressing the people’s livelihood attached to it.

  • Stagnant Societal and Economic Ambiance

The pandemic has had a flabbergasted impact on the global economy and globalization. Restrictive lockdowns acted as a response to the pandemic that has led to a decrease in production, consumption, employment, and supply chain affecting the world economy at large (Fernandes, 2020). As the reign of COVID-19 is burgeoning, concerned authorities had imposed strict restrictions on travel, mobility regulations, and lockdown of economies and trade limits. Following this, a report from the World Bank predicted that 11 million people could face poverty across East Asia and the Pacific (World Bank, 2020).

However, the lockdown strategy throws economic instability on the airline and shipping industries, coming in the loss of income, the trouble of global trading, and paralyzing the tourism industry. Besides, event cancellations have exacerbated the economy and world tourism. The world has recognized the consequential impact on the workforce, supply chain, and consumer behavior as a cascading chain of events that has simultaneously halted the global economy.

Simultaneously, COVID-19 also has hit hard the clothing industry. In the European Union, the textile and apparel sector is forecast to face a potential 50 percent drop in sales for 2020 (just-style, 2020). One of the most footloose industries when it comes to the supply chain has been the garment industry. Numerous international and national sports, conferences, and concerts have been canceled due to the pandemic causing massive losses in the host nation (Escher, et al, 2020). The pandemic has also impacted the food and agriculture industry significantly. The concerns regarding the food and agriculture industry have escalated worldwide with the headway of the pandemic and with no end in sight.

The pandemic has debilitated the health sector, entertainment industry, financial markets, event industry, hospitality business, and travel and sports industries. Besides, it is imposing menacing impacts on the export-import and oil-dependent countries. Due to the COVID-19, the world trades have seen considerable drops in consumers, which have impacted small businesses and employments. Thus, thousands lay off, store shutdown, public gathering banned, travel restriction, and physical distancing imposed. As the top portion of the world practices some form of lockdown to lessen the spread of COVID-19, aggregately, these have a devastating impact on our global economy.

  • The Conundrum of COVID-19 Affected Pragmatic Policies

The COVID-19 pandemic is continuously giving antagonistic impacts on the global economy. People worldwide are coming together and making an intensive effort to cope with this economic turbulence. Many governments made fast policy decisions that had far-reaching positive and negative effects on their respective economy – many countries plunged into a recession.

For instance, The U.S. economy, where GDP fell by 4.8% in the first quarter, is projected to fall into recession in 2020, with a contraction of 5.0% in a likely scenario (McKibbin and Fernando 2020). The European Commission estimates that the euro area economy would decline by 7.25% in 2020, with all countries expected to fall into a recession (European Commission 2020). Concern authorities imposed social distancing policies and lockdown restrictions in many countries, and there have been arguments that such social policies can trigger a recession. Lawmakers in many countries supported an extended social distancing policy, damning the consequences of social distancing on the economy.

Conclusion

From the very beginning, COVID-19 had targeted to break down the economic wheels of the world. Regarding this, it started to plan a divorce in the world from globalization. The COVID-19 is growing continuous backlash against our world economy and globalization. It is destroying all the possible sectors that are useful to accelerate the world economy. Following this, the coronavirus is killing the processes of globalization in the meantime. To cure its negative consequences towards the world, the world’s leaders should put more of their acumen into treating the world with care. Finally, the pandemic has exacerbated the burning need to revisit disaster preparedness in response to our surrounding environment’s revitalizing strength.

References

Author: Joyanta Basak. He is a final year student in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Jahangirnagar University. He remained a former internee at the Department of Environment (DoE).

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