The pandemic has exposed our existing vulnerabilities

The ongoing pandemic has caused huge economic losses for the world. In 2020, growth in South Asia contracted by 5.4 percent, which does not capture the whole story of how terribly its people have actually suffered—but it is an indicator of how the region has struggled over the last year.

In late last March, the World Bank said in a report that South Asia is expected to grow by 7.2 percent this year and that the expansion will be driven mainly by Bangladesh and India. This expectation was predicated on the "success of South Asian nations in containing" the virus. Less than a month after the WB's bold prediction, both India and Bangladesh are now again struggling to contain the spread of the virus, making the WB's prediction look premature and optimistic at present.