OUR CORRESPONDENT
ISLAMABAD The World Bank (WB) on Friday signed a $ 200 million financing agreement with Pakistan for effectively responding to the challenge of COVID-19 pandemic in the country. Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Muhammad Hammad Azhar witnessed the signing ceremony through video link for the project “Pandemic Response Effectiveness in Pakistan” worth $ 200 million with the World Bank held here at the Economic Affairs Division, a ministry press release said. Secretary Economic Affairs Division Dr Syed Pervaiz Abbas signed the agreement on behalf of Government of Pakistan and the provincial project agreements were signed by the designated officers of the provincial governments, while Country Director Patchamuthu Illangovan inked the accords on behalf of the World Bank. The development objective of the project is to support the government to prepare and respond to the Covid-19 pandemic in Pakistan and strengthen national systems for public health preparedness. The project will primarily focus health sector operations to help address the critical country-level needs to prevent, detect and respond to the threat posed by the COVID-19. It will also support strengthening the country’s national health systems for public health preparedness and response needs related to the Covid-19 outbreak, and includes mitigation measures in social protection, and education to help the poor and vulnerable cope with the immediate impact of the pandemic. The scope of this project will be nationwide, covering all provinces/territories of the country. The primary project beneficiaries will be infected people, at-risk populations, medical and emergency personnel as well as service providers at medical and testing facilities (both public and private), and national and provincial departments of health. The staff of key technical departments and provincial health departments will also benefit from the project as their capabilities increase through the strengthened institutional capacity. The primary target groups for the support to mitigate socio-economic impacts are expected to be affected households with high vulnerability to shocks, particularly the poorest and most vulnerable, who tend to have limited assets and other mechanisms to protect themselves from shocks (bottom 20 of the distribution), and also households, who are affected due to mobility restrictions such as quarantines that disrupt their ability to meet basic needs. Households may benefit from multiple interventions under the proposed project which, inter-alia, includes the emergency cash transfers to up to 4 million families enrolled in the safety programme across the country, emergency food supply for quarantined populations and children’s learning activities by ensuring remote learning sessions through broadcast – to minimize the Covid-19 emergency effects on children’s and youth learning. Speaking on the occasion, Hammad Azhar thanked the World Bank for extending its support to Pakistan for carrying out the national drive against the Covid-19 pandemic emergency.
