‘US could’ve saved $10tr if it handled COVID like Pakistan’
The United States could have saved $10 trillion if it had handled the COVID-19 pandemic as well as countries like Pakistan, said a former US government official.
Larry Summers, former US treasury secretary and former Harvard University president, appeared on CNN and spoke to Fareed Zakaria on the economic and health cost of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US.
He estimated that it had caused a $7.59 trillion loss to the country’s GDP and a total loss of $16.12 trillion to the country, which is 90% of the annual GDP.
He said it was worse than the 2008 recession. This is an extraordinary sum, he said, adding that it was “insane” that the government was investing so little into having a supply of PPE and competent testing regimen in the country.
“If we had run this as well as the average country had run it, heck if we had run it as well as Pakistan ran the response, we would have saved in the neighbourhood of $10 trillion,” he said. “Our failure is almost unimaginable as a country.”
CNN estimates that the US is averaging more than 55,000 new cases a day. As of Monday morning, the US has reported 8.1 million cases and 219,674 deaths, making it the worst affected country in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University, which is tracking global COVID cases.
In contrast, Pakistan has reported 323,452 cases and 6,659 deaths. However, a recent surge in cases has been noted in Pakistan with Federal Planning Minister Asad Umar cautioning people to follow SOPs or face restrictive actions.
Pakistan had initially imposed a total lockdown, shutting down all businesses and schools and placing restrictions on people going out at all. The lockdown was lifted by the federal government, who argued that the economic toll was too high.
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