‘Lockdown affects livelihoods of 24.9mln workers in Pakistan’

ISLAMABAD: The government has disbursed Rs180 billion in one-time cash assistance to 16.9 million families at risk of extreme poverty during coronavirus lockdown that affected the livelihoods of 24.9 million workers in Pakistan, the government focal person said.

Special Assistant of Prime Minister, Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Ministry Sania Nishtar said the government allocated Rs203 billion ($1.2 billion) in emergency cash program in response to the economic impact of the pandemic.

“Lasting over two months the resulting financial and social disruption was significant,” Nishtar wrote in report by the International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth. “With the onset of the national lockdown, the economic turmoil was unprecedented.”

The last year’s lockdown affected the livelihoods of 11.4 million daily wage workers in the formal and informal economies, and 13.5 million self-employed workers in the informal economy. Given that the average Pakistani family has 6.4 members, it is estimated that the disruption affected around 160 million people, roughly two thirds of the country’s total population.

Labourers found themselves suddenly unemployed, with their families on the verge of starvation. Hawkers who would rely on daily sales from their stalls were forced out of work. Staffs from otherwise busy hotels and restaurants were suddenly left sitting at home. Domestic workers such as part[1]time gardeners, security guards, drivers and industrial daily wagers were laid off. Fishermen, miners, transport contractors, bus drivers and hawkers in bus stations were suddenly out of a job. Beauticians and barbers, otherwise making a decent living, found themselves with no customers. Millions of shopkeepers with their savings consumed faced hunger, living behind the shutters of their closed shops. Private[1]school teachers received severance letters. Electricians, welders, painters, carpenters, plumbers, car mechanics and construction labourers did not know where their next meal was coming from and taxi drivers did not see a passenger for weeks on end.

“This was the story repeated across industries and geographies,” she said.

The emergency cash program received 139 million requests, of which 66 million were unique. Some 16.9 million individuals were declared eligible – each individual equates to a household, as only one member per household may be an eligible beneficiary. Around 65 percent of all rejected applications were rejected due to wealth profiling, 20 percent due to household duplication, and the remaining due to unverified CNICs. Over 14.8 million individuals collected their payments before the closing date of the program on 30 September. For beneficiaries who experienced issues with biometric verification, or those who were next of kin of deceased beneficiaries, the deadline for collecting the funds was extended by a month.

The PM aide said disbursement process encountered many challenges. The largest social protection operation in the country was rolled out with lockdowns in effect, public transport suspended and a looming risk of disease spread. Additional challenges were related to logistics, connectivity, liquidity, cyber-attacks, biometric failures and limitations of data-driven messaging. Real-time monitoring and evaluation made it possible to address challenges quickly. Along the way, several important decisions were made. These included creating public–private partnerships at various stages. For example, partnerships with commercial banks allowed a 60 percent lower transaction fee than those of treasury banks. Similarly, tax breaks were introduced to incentivise retailers involved in disbursing the transfer, so that they would work willingly in a difficult environment.