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Opinion

South Asia risks coronavirus lost decade

India and Pakistan's poor disease management will cost them dearly

| India
A family wait outside a railway station in New Delhi on June 1: COVID-19 has laid bare the weakness of South Asia's economies.   © Reuters

James Crabtree is an associate professor in practice at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. He is author of "The Billionaire Raj."

There can be no real winners from the coronavirus pandemic, but even in a weakened world South Asia will be among the most significant losers. As disease figures worsen in India and Pakistan in particular, the pandemic looks set to deny the region a chance to turn itself into a new engine for global economic growth, as East Asia had done before it.

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