Since the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic on March 11, 2020, there have been numerous adverse effects resulting from the virus’s rate of spread. The severity of the outbreak led to the emergence of strict rules and regulations to curb the virus’s spread, which had a massive impact on significant financial aspects (Müller & Klein, 2020). As a response to the measures in place, a bearish economic trend in the financial market was similar to the stock market crash in 1987, which affected all major nations globally.
One significant impact of the pandemic on project management is liquidity constraints. During the 2008 financial crisis, most central banks reduce their liquidity towards project management, even some completely exiting the market (Müller & Klein, 2020). Different governments provided stimulus packages to help reduce the pandemic’s impact on their nations to prevent such incidents. The Saudi Arabian and the United Arab Emirates provided $40 billion; the United Kingdom provided £30 billion, while the United States, under the Trump government, provided a sustainable stimulus package (Griffiths et al., 2021). On the other hand, the World Bank announced that it would provide a $12 billion plan to assist developing nations. However, the packages are becoming less effective with time; the pandemic has lasted for a long time now and is expected to last longer before a permanent solution to deal with the virus is found.
The restriction on movement around the world led to increased pressure in the supply chain and the viability of labor worldwide. The disruption in the supply of raw material and labor stopped projects under construction and affected projects already running (Bartik et al., 2020). Even though most projects stopped during the pandemic’s peak, there was no adjustment in the debt repayment period, which led to the termination of specific projects. The circumstances brought by the COVID-19 were unprecedented and resulted in numerous financial problems. More monitoring and research need to be conducted to prevent any further issues.
References
Bartik, A. W., Bertrand, M., Cullen, Z., Glaeser, E. L., Luca, M., & Stanton, C. (2020). The impact of COVID-19 on small business outcomes and expectations. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(30), 17656-17666. Web.
Griffiths, S., Del Rio, D. F., & Sovacool, B. (2021). Policy mixes to achieve sustainable mobility after the COVID-19 crisis. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 143, 110919. Web.
Müller, R., & Klein, G. (2020). The COVID-19 pandemic and project management research. Project Management Journal, 51(6), 579-581. Web.