The Covid-19 has put economic activities in quarantine worldwide almost for a month now. The major Stock Markets in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and the United States (US) have already plummeted. The industrial sector is now shut; the tourism industry is stifled; restaurants, coffee shops, gyms, and other small businesses have started laying workers off outright; unemployment rates are skyrocketing like never before, and income inequality is widening worldwide. The statistics show that jobless claims in the US reached millions in number; equivalent to a total of six months claims during a great recession. Amid this rife, South Asia is not also intact. In fact, the World Bank projected that the fastest-growing region (South Asia) is going to face condensed growth this year: decreasing from 6.3 per cent projected six months ago to between 1.8 and 2.8 per cent in 2020. Nepal is not also immune to this rife: the World Bank argued that growth in Nepal would come down heavily to 1.5 and 2.8 per cent during 2020.

Given these red flags, the panel discussion on ‘impact of COVID-19 on South Asian economies’ tries to bring economists from different countries in a single platform to discuss the growing economic impacts of the current crisis, the governments’ responses, and primitive actions required to get the South Asian region back on its footings.