Uncertainty prevails about future of world economy: PM Imran Khan

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan Wednesday said uncertainty prevails about the future of the world economy and no one knows when coronavirus would end.

The premier called for a joint (global) strategy to deal with the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic and soften its impact on vulnerable segments of the society, especially the labourers. Addressing an online global summit under the aegis of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on coronavirus, the prime minister emphasised the labour class had been the most impacted one due to the coronavirus and the lockdowns imposed around the world.

“We would love to share ideas with the world; we would love to know what other countries are doing. Pakistan will keep other countries updated on the situation and how we intend to move forward. The exchange of ideas will, I'm sure, help us to solve our problems,” he believed.

As regards his government efforts to stem the spread of the virus and to make sure the labour force of the country did not go hungry, the prime minister said, “We decided that the government needed to transfer cash to the informal part of the labour. Those who were registered, we asked the employers to keep them employed. But the ones who were not, we helped them through Ehsaas cash programme.”

He pointed out that never in the country’s history so much money was transferred to so many people in a short time and added, “This saved us from some of the worst aspects of the crisis. Unlike in India, where they imposed a curfew, which pushed people into deeper poverty.”

The prime minister emphasised that no one was sure when the coronavirus would end. “We are all praying a vaccine comes out for the virus soon, but, meanwhile, uncertainty prevails,” he maintained.

“The small and medium enterprises (SMEs), he noted, were the most affected by the virus and these employ the most number of labourers, which was why we needed to come up with the idea to solve their issues,” he said.

About the overseas labourers, the prime minister said a collective strategy was required to tell other countries to be sympathetic to these labourers. “We need some joint strategy on how we can 'soften the impact' on labourers across the world,” he contended.

The prime minister pointed out that many countries including Pakistan depend upon remittances sent by the overseas workers. He said though the host countries were also faced with many problems due to the coronavirus, yet we need to convince them to be more sympathetic to these labourers.

Meanwhile, presiding over a review meeting on the coronavirus situation in Pakistan, Imran Khan expressed satisfaction with the positive results in the prevention of coronavirus and said that while it was satisfactory that the virus graph was steadily declining, “we need to learn from our experiences and make administrative steps more effective so as to further reducing its spread.”

In this regard, the prime minister directed that the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) meetings be held in the provincial capitals and administrative measures be made more effective with the cooperation and coordination of the provincial governments and the administration.

Talking about the strategy to be formulated for Eidul Azha, the prime minister said that keeping in view the experiences of the last Eid, security measures and SOPs should be strictly followed on the occasion of Eidul Azha.

Meanwhile, Leader of the House in the Senate Dr Shehzad Waseem called on Imran Khan to discuss the next session of the Senate as well as parliamentary matters.