Mapping economic and social effects of Covid-19 in ASEAN economies

The emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic has created a perfect storm of crises in ASEAN member countries (AMCs). Before the Covid-19 crisis, economic inequalities were prevalent all across AMCs at domestic and regional levels and the majority of the population was confined to surviving on low and insecure incomes. The main objective of this study is to explore the economic and social effects among AMCs and how Covid-19 interacted with these effects. Our study indicates that stark and myriad economic inequalities persist among low-income and rural poor societies of high-income countries in the ASEAN ranging from wealth, access to healthcare and education services, gender-based inequalities, deprivation of basic resources and services, and asymmetry in employment and migration opportunities for certain groups. We predict that Covid-19 will exacerbate these inequalities consequently pushing marginalised and vulnerable people into extreme poverty and may further escalate health and economic risks. AMCs governments need to focus on developing an inclusive economic recovery process to strengthen the poorly protected social safety nets, address the gender-based issues and consider the inclusion of marginalised and vulnerable communities while developing health and economic recovery policies to mitigate Covid-19 impacts. Our findings provide a roadmap to the governments and policymakers scrambling for resources to combat the Covid-19 social and economic impacts.