‘Covid-19 highlights need for just economic system’

Islamabad: Senior vice president of FPCCI Business Panel and President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum Mian Zahid Hussain on Friday said the corona crisis has underlined the need for a just economic system which can result in a proper society and lift people out of poverty.

A wealthy minority supports the unfair and manipulative economic system which is very damaging for the majority, he said. The business leader said the establishment of a good global society and poverty eradication is impossible in the current economic system which is promoting interests of less than one percent of the super-rich.

He noted that coronavirus has pushed unemployment and poverty to new heights making life difficult for millions but the response of developed nations and international institutions is far from satisfactory.

The commercial lenders top the list for callous attitude towards poor countries as they are not ready to give any concession to the borrowers despite emergency which has shaken the world.

He said that World Bank is providing $160 billion to 70 countries while the IMF and other institutions are also moving slowly in the right direction but their efforts are far below the requirement.

This is also a fact that IMF, ADB and World Bank has not reduced the miseries of the poor but added to the poverty and other problems in the third world as they are not concerned about the wastage of loans which increase debt on the poor nations.

Masses in the poor countries get nothing against the loans while governments get indebted allocating more resources to debt retirement and ignoring critical social sectors. He said that the coronavirus will shrink global GDP by five percent which will be a nightmare for the poor living below the poverty line.