Govt urged to announce relief package for small traders.

ISLAMABAD -- Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) has urged that the government to announce a special relief package to alleviate the plight of small traders

The Covid-19 have badly affected small traders due to which they are facing great difficulties, said Tahir Abbasi, Senior Vice President ICCI, says a press release.

He said that the majority of business people in Pakistan belong to small traders but due to lockdown many small traders have suffered huge losses.

He urged the government to provide them immediate support, otherwise, many of them would lose their business forever, leading to increased unemployment and poverty.

Tahir Abbasi said that due to the closure of businesses, small traders in Islamabad are no longer in a position to pay rent of shops and urged the government to negotiate with shop owners to provide 6-month relief in rent payment to small traders.

He said the government should also consider providing subsidies to small traders in payment of rents.

He said that SBP has launched a Rozgar scheme for businesses so that they can take loans from banks to save their employees from becoming unemployed. However, he said that banks were demanding...