Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan called for debt relief on Thursday by proposing a 10-point plan to prevent several developing countries from collapsing as a result of Covid-19 restrictions and lockdowns.
Addressing a session of the United Nations General Assembly on responding to the pandemic, Khan called on behalf of developing countries for financial respite.
“I am sure that other developing countries in our position face a similar dilemma. How to stimulate the economy and at the same time reduce our budget deficit? The only way we can have the fiscal space to maintain and reignite growth is through access to additional liquidity, ”said the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
Khan told his audience that rich countries have injected $ 13 trillion as fiscal stimulus to revive their economies, but developing countries did not have as many resources. Pakistan, he said, is also committed under an IMF program to reduce the budget deficit.
The prime minister of Pakistan spoke at length about the dangers facing developing countries, saying that the effects of collapsing economies could be catastrophic. He also shared the losses Pakistan’s economy has faced due to the Covid pandemic.
Pakistan’s prime minister said his government’s strategy had worked for the first wave as they had imposed smart blockades. Because of this, the daily bets had not suffered unnecessarily. At the same time, the prime minister of Pakistan warned that the second wave had begun to paralyze life in parts of Pakistan.
“Our efforts were aimed at ensuring that we not only saved people from the virus, but also prevented them from starving. We provided an aid package of around $ 8 billion, which was almost 3% of our GDP, to support the poor and keep the economy afloat at the same time, ”he said.
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