Sindh Government imposed lockdown on March 23rd 2020 for two weeks and then further extended the restrictions till April 14th 2020. Three weeks province vide lockdown may not be eased off after April 14th as leading Doctors and Chinese Medial Experts have urged the Provincial Government to extend the restrictions noted Ateeq Ur Rehman (Economic & Financial Analyst).
He said that we have to seriously workout something as Pakistan’s Economic Condition was already on “Economic Emergency”, Covid 19 has further deteriorated the situation. UN’s Conference on Trade & Development predicts that “Pakistan is going to be one of the most effected economy of the World” and World Bank expects Pakistan’s GDP will be slashed down to 1.1% from 2.4%. Also, Pakistan’s Economy is expected to suffer a massive loss of Rupees 1.1 trillion with Export damages to the tune of USD 4 billion. May be from Commodity Market this time the Rice Export target of 2 billion will be difficult to achieve. Ateeq requested the Government to seriously take note of the continues depreciation of Rupee against USD and prevailing Higher Interest Rate which is adding back to the Public Debt.
He added that Unemployment in Pakistan may jump between 1.2 core to 1.5 core. Enormous amount of layoffs are under the employees including women, elders & youngsters in closed factories / Offices, etc. Alone in USA 3.3 million people got jobless so far and increasingly this could top to 5 million.
Sadly he added that, Pakistan has gone down 50% below Poverty Level and Under Extreme Financial Difficult Conditions. Deprives are uncertain of getting 2 times meal & pay for their food, bills, rent & liabilities, etc. Government has to do something more to help people meet their two ends .
According to one of the report Global Economy has undergone a damage of USD 4.1 trillion , consequently investors on Stock Exchanges all over the world has sustained almost a loss of USD 11 Trillion, therefore Investors fear fresh stock Volatility, ahead. There is a double digit fall in world economy where world trade could fall up to 32 percent. Only China suffered a loss (so far) of USD 700 Billion. Its GDP, which was 6.1 percent last year now it gone down to 2.3 percent.
He suggested that in this increasingly a challenging time for us, lets abide by Law, work hard with extensive command, authority & discipline. Insha’Allah better days will return, soon.
