Turkey implemented a partial lockdown to contain the COVID-19 outbreak. These limited measures, which kept majority of businesses open, which kept majority of businesses open, managed to avoid more adverse outcomes that could have been expected. Could Turkey have done better in those three months? Yes, we probably could have. If stricter measures were put into practice sooner, and communications were more transparent, the virus could have been under control within a month. If the necessity of the restrictions was communicated more clearly, and there was stronger coordination among the different units towards a common goal, confidence could have been established faster, and we could have minimized the damage. If the inflation rate was taken under control and the budget deficit was lower when the pandemic first hit in March, we could have used monetary and fiscal policy more effectively and offset the negative impact of the lockdown measures more successfully. But after all the most feared scenarios have been avoided.
Here is the full text of the analysis about Turkey’s relative success in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic for the London School of Economics, Institute of Governmental Affairs.
