Over 57pc to suffer COVID-19 financial squeeze.

Around 57 percent of the country's population is economically vulnerable to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and between 12.5 million to 19.1 million jobs are at stake because of the partial and complete lockdowns imposed to stem the spread of the disease, according to the Economic Survey of Pakistan 2019-20 released on Thursday.

The government also expects a second wave of Covid-19 that 'could further threaten macroeconomic stability and socio-economic outcomes'.

The higher public debt, which is currently estimated at 88 percent, would be 'problematic' and financing for development projects might become scarce. Revenue would be difficult to increase and the expenditure demand might be immense.

The government has not given any exact figure about the economic losses suffered because of the pandemic in a special chapter on Covid-19 that is part of the survey, but Finance Adviser Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh at a news conference put it at 'over Rs3 trillion'.

'It is very difficult to say with certainty but Pakistan's GDP that was projected to grow over 3 percent contracted to 0.4 percent and we have effectively lost 3.5 percent of the GDP due to coronavirus,' he said while releasing the survey.

'Exports have already dipped while foreign remittances are also going to get affected in the coming months,' he added.

The survey report has discussed the socio-economic assessment in light of economic, social and food security related vulnerabilities.

'An estimated 56.6 percent of the population is socio-economically vulnerable to the Covid-19 crisis,' the report read.

Women and children, especially those from more disadvantaged households and home-based workers, will be among the worst hit.

Shaikh pinned the blame for all the economic miseries on the spread of the...

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