ISLAMABAD: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has acknowledged Pakistan’s measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
The IMF’s recent publication ‘Policy Tracker’ of its 193 member-states said that COVID-19 has been spreading rapidly in the past month in Pakistan, with 4,489 confirmed cases claiming 63 deaths, as of 9 April.
The fund said that the government announced a relief package worth Rs1.2 trillion to help daily wagers, common people of Pakistan and boost the economy.
Other measures include quarantining over three thousand travelers from Iran, closing borders with neighboring countries, international travel restrictions, school closures, social distancing measures, and lockdowns in cities and provinces across the country. Pakistan army troops were deployed to help provincial governments in their measures to contain the spread of the virus.
The government announced an economic stimulus package on the fiscal side under which key measures include the elimination of import duties on imports of emergency health equipment, relief to daily wage workers worth Rs200bn, Rs150bn for cash transfers to low-income families, accelerated tax refunds to the export industry with Rs100bn, and financial support of Rs100bn to Small and Medium Enterprises.
The economic package also earmarked resources for accelerated procurement of wheat worth Rs280bn, financial support to Utility Stores worth Rs50bn, relief in fuel prices with Rs70bn, a fund of Rs15bn to support health and food supplies, Rs110bn for electricity bill payments relief, Rs100bn for an emergency contingency fund and a transfer of Rs25bn to National Disaster Management Authority for purchase of necessary equipment to deal with the pandemic.
On the monetary and macro financial front, the State Bank of Pakistan responded to the crisis by cutting the policy rate twice by a cumulative 225 basis points to 11.0 percent in the span of a less than two weeks in March this year.
The SBP had also announced two new refinancing facilities. First, the ‘Temporary Economic Refinancing Facility’ worth Rs100bn to stimulate investment in new manufacturing plants and machinery at 7 per cent fixed for 10 years. Second, the “Refinance Facility for Combating COVID-19” worth Rs5bn to support hospitals and medical centers the purchase of equipment to detect, contain, and treat COVID-19.
