PRIME Minister Imran Khan legitimately took pride in announcing on Monday that Pakistan’s economy was out of the woods and moving towards stability due to the government’s successful strategy amid the coronavirus pandemic coursing through the country.
Chairing a meeting of the ruling party spokespersons attended by federal ministers, special assistants, party leaders and spokespersons he said in the era of coronavirus, when every economy in the world had been hit hard giving rise to economic problems, Pakistan had embarked on an economic journey with a successful strategy.
There is no doubt that the pandemic handling of the PTI Government has become a role model for other countries as it helped check the spread of the virus without seriously disturbing the routine life and economic activities and the country is now reaping benefits of the well-thought-out strategy.
It is rightly pointed out by experts and neutral observers that at a time when most of the economies of the world even big ones were devastated due to Covid-19 and they were still grappling to cope with the challenging situation, Pakistan was able to create/restore seven million jobs in what the Economic Survey noted ‘the V-shaped economic recovery’, achieved a growth rate that was almost double the projections, and managed huge cash transfers under Ehsaas programme benefitting 14.8 million families or nearly 100 million citizens.
Apart from the economic aspect of the strategy that prevented millions of people falling into extreme poverty, the vaccination programme is also becoming a shining example for the world as, despite paucity of resources, the Government arranged enough doses of vaccine to open the campaign for all citizens above 18 years of age.
It is a matter of satisfaction that with the passage of time, more and more vaccination centres are being opened to facilitate citizens and the Federal Government has allocated $1 billion in the new budget for procurement of vaccines to cover a majority of the population at the shortest possible time.
It is because of the meticulously devised inoculation drive, smart lock-downs and imposition of limited but timely restrictions that the country was able to cope with the alarming situation created by the third wave of the Covid-19 and the positivity rate has fallen to about one per cent in many cities.
While the Government, the NCOC led by Federal Minister Asad Umar and the Health Ministry guided by Dr. Faisal Sultan are doing their job well, the threat is still not over and therefore, it is the responsibility of every citizen to cooperate so that complete normalcy is restored soonest.
