Presently in the ‘PM Relief Fund for COVID-19’, the Government of Pakistan requested to overseas Pakistanis to donate generously to assist country handle with the ongoing health shortages in Pakistan. Because of lockdown to combat coronavirus, Prime Minister Imran Khan has been seeking donation from foreign Pakistanis and the global monetary organisations as our country faces severe economic crisis. Pakistan is one of the largest labour exporting countries of the region, analysis of Economic Survey of Pakistan FY2019 revealed, and since 1971 more than 10.61 million Pakistanis have proceeded abroad for employment. Survey analyzed that there is a main fall in manpower export to Saudi Arabia where only 100,910 emigrants proceeded for employment in year 2018 as against to the corresponding year, a drop of 42,453 emigrants. On the other hand, manpower export to UAE also fell in 2018. Malaysia for Pakistani workers in the present years, emerged as a significant destination country during 2018 an increase of 38 percent manpower export towards Malaysia was observed as against to 2017. Because of the present government‘s attempts for improving manpower export, a rising trend has been observed in Qatar, which is an optimistic sign. The highest number of workers statistics showed during 2018, who went abroad was 185,902 from Punjab, followed by KPK 88,361. From Northern regions the number of registered workers rose from 3,417 in 2017 to 4,185 during 2018.
Growing number of COVID-19 cases in the country and deaths also forced government to enlarge the lockdown for another 14 days until last week of April 2020, leading to more economic problems. Facts and figures revealed that the present Government of Pakistan has already proclaimed $8 billion stimulus package to feed 12 million poor families. Moreover, the government officials also recorded that Pakistan has a remarkable human resource which is classified into 5 occupational categories such as semiskilled, highly qualified, highly skilled, skilled and un-skilled. There has been a falling trend during 2018 in all occupational groups except in the highly qualified category. In addition for the Pakistani workforce, attempts are required at government to government (G2G) level to secure employment opportunities.
It is also said that the lockdown has adversely affected the world economy and the whole world is struggling against the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in rising poverty globally, mainly in developing countries like Pakistan. The Government of Pakistan also stated overseas Pakistanis to assist their brethren in need, by the donation the government can win this was against coronavirus.
It is also said that a special online portal has also been introduced, by which expats can easily donate up to $35 or more for Pakistan. On the monthly basis as well the amount can be donated. The Government of Pakistan had also appealed to world leaders, heads of financial institutions, and the United Nations to introduce an initiative that will give debt relief to developing states to combat the coronavirus. As the primary concern of this government was that the poor should not die of hunger because of necessary lockdowns to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The Prime Minister Imran Khan urged that the problem the developing world faces is a huge discrepancy in the resources available to developed and developing nations. Sources recorded that the United States, Germany, and Japan have come up with relief packages of $2.2 trillion, €1 trillion, and $1 trillion, respectively, the maximum stimulus Pakistan could afford for a population of 220 million is $8 billion. This is the issue with most of the developing world, mainly the developing world that’s suffering from a very high debt-to-GDP ratio, in addition, these highly-indebted countries now face the challenge of a lack of fiscal space. Moreover, the Government of Pakistan sought help to fight coronavirus from Germany to back his ‘global debt relief’ initiative for developing countries.
Sources say that the Government of Pakistan hoped that alongside the UN Secretary General, countries like Germany would provide leadership to this issue, in the forthcoming G-20 Finance Ministers Meeting also Spring Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank. According to a report released by the World Bank Pakistan, which has already experienced low growth rates in recent years, could well decline into a recession with 1.8 percent population growth that would imply a painful fall in per capita income.
Conclusion
No doubt, the numbers of cases are growing there is a dire need of coordination between the federal and the provincial governments to effectively fight against coronavirus. There were some issues that the provinces and the federal government did not agree on. Some provinces and the federal government agreed that some essential workplaces should reopen or not. In light of recent numbers, there may be a need for stricter implementation of the lockdown in the coming days but the policy makers of Pakistan must take care the poor people in Pakistan.