Covid-19: Fiscal Challenges Await Most Governments
By Yap Jo-Yee
June 2020 FEATURE
COUNTRIES ARE LIKENING the Covid-19 pandemic to war and indeed, we are observing wartime spending levels across the globe. Malaysia’s RM260bil fiscal stimulus package PRIHATIN is 17% of GDP, easily one of the largest around. Japan’s is still the largest, coming in at 21%. The US’ is 11%, while Singapore’s stands at 12%. Though RM260bil might seem a colossal sum, the good news is that direct cash injections are only RM35bil, or 2.3% of GDP.The consensus is that this will...
Yap Jo-Yee
is a research analyst at Penang Institute whose interests range from development issues to behavioural economics. Her latest goal is to use ggplot2 without Google’s help.
