Changed by a virus?

The Corona crisis has been affecting the whole world since early 2020, and it still is Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) has recently published a study about how the Virus has influenced global politics and economics, and global thinking entitled, “The Global Bearing of Corona: How the pandemic is changing the world”.

This current study, which we are happy to present today, is a follow-up and analyses the impact of Corona on Pakistan The author is Nazish Brohi, and we are excited about the depth and creativity of her text� FES hopes that it will contribute to the understanding of how the pandemic has affected Pakistan.

While Pakistan, up to now, has experienced a comparably low number of Covid-19 cases, for instance in comparison to its neighboring countries Iran and India, it still has suffered gravely from the pandemic, both in regard to public health, to its economy, and its politics and culture. The lock-down has been a traumatic experience for many, and the economic effects are still not completely clear since Pakistan was facing economic problems and challenges even before the crisis. Nazish Brohi’s paper in this regard is providing an excellent overview, and an abundance of information on relevant details as well. At the same time, the author has been aware that the crisis still is not over, and many lessons can only be learnt at a later stage.

The text of this study has been concluded at the end of July 2020, but the Corona crisis and its effects have still evolved. For this reason, some of the statistical data presented cannot be up to date. To make up for this, we have added a little table with updated information, which is including data up to September 4th, 2020.