As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, working from home and lockdown restrictions have left many to be confined at home with little to spend on.
But in an Arab News Twitter poll that asked whether people have managed to save, the answers were divided.
Out of 609 votes, only 34 percent said their savings have increased since the start of the pandemic, while 22.5 percent said they were still spending.
However, 33.5 percent said they couldn’t afford to save as many lost their jobs due to business closure.
Since #COVID19 came there’s been little to spend the money on, have you been saving more, or is the cash still vanishing?
— Arab News (@arabnews) July 7, 2020
According to a UN Economic Commission for Western Asia report, the coronavirus pandemic threatens to wipe out more than 1.7 million jobs across the Arab world this year.
Arab nations’ gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to shrink by at least $42 billion in 2020, hit by plunging oil prices and virus-linked shutdowns, the report said.
“More than 1.7 million jobs could be lost in 2020, with the unemployment rate increasing by 1.2 percentage points,” it claimed.
You read this, now take our new poll:
#POLL: Face masks have become a compulsory item since the #coronavirus pandemic. Will you continue to wear a mask once a vaccine is released?
— Arab News (@arabnews) July 9, 2020
