PPP opposes using COVID-19 fund for interest payment

ISLAMABAD: Parliamentary leader of the PPP in the Senate Sherry Rehman has opposed the decision to use the COVID-19 fund for interest payment while questioning PTI government’s decision to allow diverting Rs10 billion from the coronavirus relief funds to pay interest on loans taken to retire circular debt.

“Has the government managed to curb the spread of COVID-19 that we don’t need this money anymore and now it is being used to pay interest,” she questioned the PTI government.

Sherry Rehman said people were asked to donate their hard-earned money for this cause but now suddenly the government has decided to use it elsewhere. She said it is the government’s responsibility to pay off the interest and is not fair on people that their money is being misused like this.

“This is an extremely irresponsible decision and it is apparent that the federal leadership lacks seriousness and is not able to effectively deal with the existential crisis,” she added.

She questioned why the Parliament was not involved in this decision as this money does not belong to any party and instead of helping the provinces fight this pandemic, this money is being used to pay off interest. “What happened to the transparency which the ruling party is always talking about? Why were the provinces not taken in confidence,” she questioned, adding that when the country needs to unify more than ever, the ruling party is doing everything to intensify political polarisation in the country.

Sherry Rehman said it’s quite an outrage that money given for COVID-19 relief is being used up for plugging the governance holes in the growing circular debt. “They have no policy or plan for managing or reducing that either," she added.

The PPP leader said the scale, impact and effects of the coronavirus are still gathering momentum in Pakistan and we need to gather all our resources to fight this national emergency. “Instead of creating unnecessary controversy by putting economy before public health, the government should focus on coming up with an effective policy,” she said.

Meanwhile, the PPP Secretary Information Dr Nafeesa Shah said using Rs10 billion from corona fund for debt retirement was like cheating the nation.

Nafeesa Shah said paying for incapacity and inability of this failed PTI government is a fraudulent act and now spending this amount collected from people's pockets on the corona relief is a criminal act.

APP adds: The Ministry of Finance described as factually inaccurate the news report that was published in a section of the press saying that the PTI government was planning to use COVID-19 fund for interest payment.

In an official statement, the Ministry of Finance clarified that the Prime Minister COVID Relief Fund was to be utilised solely for providing cash assistance to the most vulnerable households and daily wagers.

The government has scaled up emergency cash assistance to cover 16 million most vulnerable households due to the COVID-19 crisis, from 5 million households earlier. The ECC decision was to allocate Rs10 billion towards the interest payment of Rs200 billion PES-II issued on May 20, 2020, from the fiscal stimulus package of Rs1.2 trillion.

The statement said the government had earmarked Rs100 billion for relief on power and gas for the citizens of Pakistan in the fiscal stimulus package. Towards this end, the government has already provided relief on utility bills for the next three months for the poorest households.