Even as the COVID-19 uncertainty continues, I am cautiously optimistic that we can overcome this crisis. Let me now proceed by first providing a snapshot of the terrain after the outbreak of COVID-19. The domestic financial markets were racked by heightened volatility following the outbreak of the COVID- 19 pandemic. We saw sharp decline in portfolio inflows in the first two months of 2020.
The stock market index recorded on March 19 its lowest year-to-date record since 11 October 2011. We have had serious exogenous shocks in the first quarter– the Taal volcano eruption, US-China trade tensions, African swine fever. But nothing comes close to the COVID-19 pandemic that has brought the global economy at a standstill.