Islamabad, (thestates.news) #Pakistan Prime Minister #Imran Khan on Thursday offered a helping hand to India to financially uplift Indians severely affected from #COVID-19 crisis by sharing his government’s cash transfer scheme, which he claimed was very successful.
Mr Khan, in a tweet, shared a media report which said that 84 per cent Indian households suffered a decrease in monthly income since #coronavirus-induced nationwide #lockdown.
“Our govt successfully transferred Rs 120 billion in 9 weeks to over 10 million families in a transparent manner to deal with the #COVID-19 fallout on the poor”, he tweeted.
“According to this report [which he shared on twitter], 34% of households across India will not be able to survive for more than a week without assistance. I am ready to offer help & share our successful cash transfer prog, lauded internationally for its reach & transparency, with India,” Mr Khan said.
The study based on data from the #Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (#CMIE) was published on May 12, just a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the Rs 20 lakh crore ‘#Atmanirbhar Bharat’ package to help revive the battered economy due to the pandemic.
The media report which Mr Khan shared, stated that direct and immediate transfers of food and cash should be highest priority of the government.
“The study had found a sharp and broad negative impact on household income as the pandemic diminished their staying capacity, adding that the unemployment rate in the country had crossed 27% in early May, up nearly four-fold from levels in January-February”, the media report said.
Rural households have seen disproportionately more distress than those in urban India due to the four back-to-back lockdowns. Incomes have fallen at some 88 per cent of rural households, compared to 75 per cent at urban households, the study found.
Indian National Congress former president #Rahul Gandhi, too, had earlier expressed reservations over the economic package announced by the government and called on the government to put money into the bank accounts of migrant workers and other people who have been severely hit by the COVID-19 crisis.
‘Modiji should think about direct cash transfer, 200 working days under MNREGA, money for farmers, because they are the future of India. Mother India needs to give money to its children in the time of this crisis’, Mr Gandhi had said at that time.
Meanwhile, 5,834 new coronavirus cases have surfaced in Pakistan over the last twenty-four hours taking the total tally to 119,536.
Pakistan, too, is facing the shock waves of the pandemic. Its economy has contracted by 0.38 per cent in FY2020, an economic survey report presented by Advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said.
Hafeez touched upon the fragile situation of the economy, saying that Pakistan’s loans increased to Rs 25,000 bn and if the total debts and liabilities were added up, they would amount to Rs 30,000 bn.
On Wednesday, the #Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved $500 million emergency loan for Pakistan, as the government also revised its external loans estimates to $14 billion for the outgoing fiscal year.
Pakistan had sought the counter-cyclical support facfacility as budgetary support against exogenous shocks to restore growth.(uni) (mediasaheb.com)
Imran offers to share direct cash transfer scheme with India
