https://www.revenuehits.com/lps/pubref/?ref=@RH@yFrunQv_mzw-z-eHW6TrQFgCNN7_AvfT

Pakistan, IMF discussing additional $1.4bn as coronavirus likely to dent economy: Hafeez Shaikh

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were having discussions over an additional sum worth $1.4 billion to help mitigate a likely blow to the country's economy due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said Wednesday.

"This sum [of additional money] is separate from the current program", Dr. Shaikh said, referring to the ongoing three-year Extended Fund Facility (EFF) worth $6 billion. Pakistan's economy was growing stronger but the COVID-19 pandemic was expected to dent it considerably, he added.

Remittances were likely to fall, as was the tax collection, and a slowdown in the economic activity throughout the country was imminent, the adviser said in a press conference here in the federal capital.

The government has, however, already announced an Rs1.2-trillion economic and financial relief package to ward off the negative impact of the coronavirus, he said. It has further earmarked Rs200 billion for the laborers who would face extraordinary difficulties in the wake of nationwide lockdowns to contain COVID-19.

"We have to save our own people first. If someone loses their job, they can be given more money than that," he said.

"We will immediately release tax refunds worth Rs100 billion to the export industry," Dr. Shaikh added, noting that another Rs100 billion was set aside for the small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and agricultural sector.