Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that his government would consult the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to disburse the second package of incentives as the third wave of the coronavirus hits the country.
He made this announcement while addressing the launching ceremony of the United Nations Development Program’s (UNDP) Pakistan National Human Development Report (NHDR) on Inequality in Islamabad.
He said that the third virus wave was “scarier” than the first wave in many ways, due to which he would personally speak with the IMF head regarding the relief package in view of forecasted disruptions, Dawn news reported.
He said, “Just when the economy was recovering and all the indicators were positive, unfortunately now we will have to review the situation, and a new Ehsaas programme [will be announced] because the service industry has been badly hit everywhere in the world, but in Pakistan, it has been really badly hit.” Adding, “Now with this third wave, we will have to give incentive packages.”
He said that he believes IMF would understand the need for an incentive package, as “you cannot impose conditions when people are already suffering.”
He noted that the UNDP report had highlighted the need to protect the poor segments because masses around the world were affected by the lockdowns and disruptions due to COVID-19.
The prime minister also said that the data collected in the UNDP report would help the government in fine-tuning its policies. He said that it was the government’s priority to protect the poor sections of society and bridge the regional disparity. “Once we have this [population] data, we will be able to directly subsidize that section of the population that’s vulnerable whether in the rural or urban areas,” he said.
