OBSERVER REPORT
PESHAWAR A report by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s Planning and Development Department has revealed that as many as 1.3 million could lose their jobs if a 45-day lockdown was put in place, warning that at least 460,000 people working as daily wagers and street vendors were set to lose their employment with “immediate effect”. The report, released on Sunday, highlighted the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on the province’s economy. While estimating layoffs caused due to the lockdown in place to stop the spread of the pandemic, the report noted that “daily wage workers, paid worker by piece rate or work performed, paid non-family apprentice and street vendors” were highly vulnerable to the economic impact of coronavirus. The report also predicted that the growth of KP’s economy would decrease from 3.73 per cent in 2019 to 2.9pc this year, while the gross domestic product (GDP) would go down from Rs13,35,942 million to Rs13,16,160m. The highest losses would be seen in the transportation and storage sectors with a predicted loss of some 359,393 jobs while construction, manufacturing and wholesale sectors would also be highly affected with job losses of some 295,594, 258,664 and 216,252 respectively. The number of jobs lost could increase even more if the lockdown was extended, the report warned, estimating that some 2.7m jobs would be lost if the lockdown was extended to a six-month period while some 4.2m jobs would be lost if the lockdown remained in place for a year.