Finance Ministry needs to throw caution to the wind

The Finance Ministry’s response to the coronavirus so far has been tepid and, unless it steps up, it risks turning the public health crisis into a humanitarian and banking crisis. We assume it will do a lot more. One issue is that further stimulus will further push up the public debt ratio, which is already high. But the risk of a public debt crisis is low, and policymakers have options to keep borrowing costs in check.