The Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, Armida Salsiah Alijahbana, has said that the first priority of the Pakistan government should be taking complementary actions to minimise disruptions of lockdown on essential production sectors like food and medicine supply chain.
According to a statement issued today (Sunday), she said that Pakistan needs to adopt a nuanced approach in designing quarantine measures, and close monitoring of the economic impacts to respond to the coronavirus pandemic.
She said, “Well-targeted emergency fiscal support is also required to adequately strengthen the health system and support jobs and living standards, and it is good to see that some of these actions are already being taken by the government.”
Commenting on business policies, she said that business policies should include targeted tax exemptions and fiscal subsidies to SMEs and the most-affected business sectors, including the informal sector.
The Executive Secretary of UN-ESCAP further said that social protection also serves as a stabiliser in times of uncertainty to protect the most vulnerable sections of society.
She also termed coronavirus as a big challenge for Pakistan and warned that the pandemic has the potential to drive many more citizens into poverty, due to the loss of income during the lockdown.
“To come out of the crisis, what is needed are fiscal spending measures to contain further spread of the disease to save lives and minimise potential long-term economic damage,” she concluded.
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