By Anzal Amin
ISLAMABAD: Amid the nascent signs of economic recovery, Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Shaukat Tarin, Wednesday sought support from development partners to stimulate economic recovery during the third wave of Covid-19, which he said was challenging.
“The third wave of COVID-19 is particularly challenging and Pakistan needs support of development partners to stimulate recovery,” the mister said while delivering his remarks on behalf of Pakistan at a virtual event held on the sidelines of the 77th session of United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) titled “Debt Relief in the Aftermath of the Pandemic: How can Regional Dialogue help”.
The minister said that the country’s economy was showing nascent signs of economic recovery as Large Scale Manufacturing (LSM) was posting significant growth but there was a need to continue this momentum, which is not possible without external support.
The Finance Minister apprised forum about the economic challenges faced by Pakistan due to COVID-19 pandemic, saying that due to precarious economic situation in 2018, the government of Pakistan had to opt for International Monetary Fund (IMF) program to fix balance of payments crisis.
Pakistan successfully met all benchmarks during first performance review criteria, he said adding all fundamental economic indicators reflected significant improvement before the onset of COVID-19. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 shock resulted in considerable economic contraction leading to loss of livelihoods, disruption in supply lines and limited economic activity during partial lockdowns, he added.
