ZUBAIR QURESHI
Experts at an online seminar on Wednesday called for a coordinated policy approach mechanism among the federal and provincial government institutions and termed it crucial to mitigate impact of COVID-19 on the labour force, a pandemic that has surrounded almost the whole world. The online seminar on ‘Mitigation action against COVID-19 and its impact on Pakistan’s labour market’ was organized by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) on Wednesday. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Shamshad Akhtar, the former governor State Bank of Pakistan, said the government needs to move forward in an aggressive manner and revisit the macroeconomic framework completely. She emphasized the need for intensive discussions with the IMF and other international financial institutions. She also called for lowering the interest rate that she said is more of a market-based solutions than cash transfers. Dr. Muhammad Nasir from Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) said there were different stages of lockdown as provinces were experiencing different impacts of it
