Prime Minister Imran Khan has vowed that the new year will be a year of economic growth for Pakistan, adding that the country was already moving in the right direction with essential industries increasing output.
In 2020, the global economy endured its deepest recession in 74 years, as the COVID-19 virus pandemic upended lives and livelihoods. The recession was unprecedented in its geographic scope, the central role of services, and the scale of policy responses.
While the COVID-19 virus will stay with us throughout 2021, the rapid development and deployment of vaccines will enable a transition to a new post-pandemic economy. Thus, we approach 2021 with a mixture of caution and hope.
2020 a difficult year
An eventful and dreadful year ended with a massive toll on the health, economy, social behaviours, careers and life-styles of over 7.8 billion inhabitants breathing on the earth. COVID-19 has thus adversely affected almost all sectors.
Men opted to distance themselves from fellow men, preferring laptops and cell phones over traditional social contacts. Travel plans got shattered, resultantly affecting the hotel, aviation, tourism and hospitality industries, while many blooming and prosperous fashion and clothing businesses came on the verge of closure, bankruptcy and collapse.
PTI government’s steps 2020
Due to COVID-19, economic activity came to a standstill. Private businesses and industry stopped functioning because social distancing was the key to containing the pandemic. Restrictions on businesses had a catastrophic impact on the working class.
Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Ehsaas initiative had an ameliorative effect, relieving at least some pressure on the lower strata which had been hit the hardest. The prime minister also approved a Rs 1.2 trillion economic relief package. Of this, a total of Rs 150 billion was allotted for low-income groups, particularly labourers while an amount of Rs 280 billion was earmarked for wheat procurement.
Payment of interest on loans for exporters was deferred temporarily, while a Rs 100 billion package was provided to support small industries and the agriculture sector. The federal cabinet reviewed and approved the economic relief package on March 31.
The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) also approved a special package for relief to 12 million poor families through cash assistance under the Ehsaas Programme, where cash grants were approved under the Kafalat Programme. Emergency cash assistance was provided to the poor on the recommendation of the district administration.
PM Imran’s vision for 2021
The prime minister said, “We have to make business-friendly policies. We have to help our industry, that has been previously neglected, and have to incentivise it. The wealth that will be subsequently generated will be used to eradicate poverty.”
The premier explained that his two targets for the new year were expanding the government’s universal health coverage initiative and introducing a new programme to tackle hunger.
He said that he envisioned universal health coverage for Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan by the year’s end. “Each household will have the ability to avail medical treatment through the health insurance card. This is a massive challenge, even rich countries do not have such a system.”
PM Imran added that he will launch a new programme, under the government’s Ehsaas initiative, to make sure that no one in the country sleeps hungry.
“We will use information technology and will identify areas where this is most prevalent and will involve the whole country, including non-government organisations.”
Pakistan’s economy and projections for 2021
As per the World Bank’s forecast, Pakistan’s economic outlook remains fragile for at least two years, as the outbreak of the coronavirus respiratory disease compounded the country’s miseries.
The Washington DC-based lender had further projected, “Vulnerable households rely heavily on jobs in the services sector, and the projected weak services growth is likely to be insufficient to reverse the higher poverty rates precipitated by the pandemic.
Given anemic growth projections in the near term, the poverty is expected to worsen. A possible resurgence of the infection, widespread crop damage due to locusts and heavy monsoon rains pose major risks to the outlook.
