NEWS
THURSDAY , 01 July 2021 : The Center for Market Education ( CME ) is highly concerned with the announcement of an Enhanced Movement Control Order ( EMCO ) in many areas in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor . It has to be noted that Selangor and Kuala Lumpur host 25.5 % of the Malaysian population but together they produce 40 % of the Gross Domestic Product ( GDP ).
“ I believe that , at this point , the national economic resilience of the country is compromised for good , and the scars will remain for a long time , with our children paying the higher cost of ideologically driven policies ”, declared Dr Carmelo Ferlito , CEO of the Center for Market Education .
In 2020 , two-month of MCO 1.0 and lighter MCOs produced a GDP decline of 5.6 %. Therefore , it is very likely that we could have further GDP decline in 2021 , where the restrictions lasted longer time and where no exit strategy really emerged . It has to be added that , according to the famous Okun ’ s law , or rule of thumb , a 1 percent decrease in GDP is associated with a slightly less than 2 percent increase in the unemployment rate ; the post Great Recession data , furthermore , showed that the relationship may even had worsened .
The Center for Market Education would like also to emphasizes that a strategy aiming to minimize the number of infections is not scientifically backed . In fact , according to Science , a low R0 can keep the pandemic with us for the next 20 years , avoiding is transformation into epidemic . We need , thus , to increase R0 , but in a targeted way , protecting the vulnerable .
The |
distinction |
between |
essential |
and |
non-essential |
services |
should |
be |
immediately |
abandoned . |
First |
and |
foremost , |
in |
fact , |
every |
business |
is |
essential to someone to bring food to the |
table . Second , the distinction is impossible |
to be drawn in practice within a complex |
economic system : |
What if you can produce food but you do not have your packaging ? And what about if your customers are closed ? And what about transportation and logistics and all the maintenance services required to keep trucks and machines going ? The pretention to draw the distinction is a symptom of deep economic ignorance .
“ The government needs to be reminded that economic costs are always human costs too , as the economy is made of human lives and interactions ”, Dr Ferlito added . Currently , more than 3 million people are either employed or unemployed , or 700 times higher than the people who succumbed to COVID .
CME : EMCO WILL COMPROMISE THE FUTURE OF THE COUNTRY
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Property360Digest e-magazine Issue # 89 - 2021