Underlining the impact of the pandemic on various sectors, credit rating agency S&P Global in its latest report has said that the second wave of COVID-19 infections in India could impede the country's economic recovery and expose other nations to further waves of outbreaks.
In addition to the substantial loss of life and significant humanitarian concerns, S&P Global Ratings is expecting that the outbreak poses downside risks to GDP and heightens the possibility of business disruptions. As per the rating agency, the consumer retail and airport sectors to have a dragged out recovery with localized lockdowns and curfews in several parts of the country.
The report also said that the Indian banking sector continued to face a high level of systemic risk. It noted that the pace and scale of recovery from the second wave of COVID-19 infections will have implications for India's sovereign credit rating. Besides, S&P said that the Asia-Pacific region is susceptible to contagion from the highly infectious COVID-19 variants present in India, given the low ratios of vaccination in the region.