ISLAMABAD – Two crore Pakistanis can lose jobs due coronavirus pandemiceconomic crisis in the country , Federal Minister for Planning, Developmentand Special Initiatives Asad Umar has revealed.
He stated that around 18 million people can lose jobs, while 20 million to70 million people can fall below the poverty line due to the ongoinglockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“As per a research carried out by the Pakistan Institute of DevelopmentEconomics (PIDE), between 20 million to 70 million could fall below thepoverty line, while 18 million people could also lose jobs owing to thevirus,” he said during a news conference at the National Command andOperation Centre (NCOC).
The minister noted that Pakistan’s revenue has decreased by Rs. 119 billionin just April due to the lockdown.
He further stated that a research conducted by the Sustainable DevelopmentPolicy Institute has shown that around one million small businessesentities could close down permanently, while another research by a leadinguniversity showed that the cost incurred by the economic and socialdistancing will be quite large in terms of immediate deprivation and hunger.
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The minister also pointed out that a recent survey by Gallup showed thatone in four Pakistanis saw a reduction in their diets because of the virusfactor.
Emphasizing devastation unleashed by the virus, he said that despite thefact that the virus is not as fatal in Pakistan as compared to othercountries, its economic impact was worse. The government cannot completelyease the lockdown but everything can’t be opened either which willoverburden the healthcare systems, he added.
The planning minister said that the government will take decisions keepingthe current situation in view. “The government will then decide itspost-May 9 strategies after a meeting of the National CoordinationCommittee (NCC),” he noted.
