Opinion

Coronavirus and savings

April 03, 2020
Coronavirus and savings

Areej Al-Jahani



Novel Coronavirus has stunned our planet as do science fiction movies. The stories that we used to hear and read about in history have now become a practical scenario.

We see how a virus, which is not visible to the naked eye, can make scientists spend sleepless nights and tend to eliminate our economic gains, in a blink of an eye. I see there seems to be an agreement between the virus and technology as if viruses are ruling our planet!

Technology now tightens its grip on the arteries of the world, by running its affairs at times while enslaving it at other times and will soon kill it. But now, in the backdrop of coronavirus fears, we see the collapse of stock markets and the decline and instability of the international markets. Even individuals are affected.

The businesses of people who are doing private jobs such as trainers as well as workers in the private sector are affected directly. Their businesses, by losing most of their clients, have been disrupted. Some of these people have canceled their membership in clubs and similar public platforms.

Here, we face a question of how far would be the extent of economic setbacks that we are going to face as individuals and societies?

I asked this question to a number of people and the answers were quite divergent. Some were very candid and said that they have not saved even for a single day and their pockets are empty while some others said that they have a fixed saving plan and somehow managed to save certain amount of money.

There are some others who said that their basic problem is that their expenses are higher than their income. Ultimately, the victim of coronavirus finds himself in debt and bankruptcy in the end of the month!

This is a very deep economic problem that needs to be addressed socially and culturally. This is how the virus came to kill not only human health, but also the social, economic, and educational systems as if it posed to all a surprise test.

Perhaps saving is the worst hit. Here, the question is whether we will realistically restructure our budget and save ourselves from precarious situations. Will people save their money and time? Who knows!


April 03, 2020
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