A quick thread of why we need to focus most on providing states adequate finance at this time.

1) some of the key revenue sources for states include real estate, petroleum and alocohol sales. Revenue from these sources will come to a near standstill amid the lockdown.

2) But expenditures are not very flexibility. Interest, salaries, pensions take up a lot of the spending. And of course near term expenses have sky rocketed.

Disaster relief funds are woefully inadequate. At best, about 0.1 percent of GDP. They can handle floods and droughts but not a pandemic of this nature.

And so emergency relief has to be provided on the funding front. One good step has been increased WMA but it is still not enough. May need to be hiked further plus additional support measures thought of.

These issues highlighted here in this article: https://www.bloombergquint.com/coronavirus-outbreak/how-much-financial-flexibility-do-states-have-to-deal-with-covid-19-strain