ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan is announcing the “biggest relief package” in the country’s history, as he addressing the nation.
The prime minister, at the outset of his address, thanked Pakistan’s brotherly nations China and Saudi Arabia for financially backing the country.
PM Imran Khan said had it not been for their support, the country would have become a defaulter of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the rupee would have depreciated more and inflation would have skyrocketed.
The prime minister also shed light on the coronavirus situation across the world and said that, unlike other countries, the Pakistani government made strategic decisions related to the imposition of a lockdown and saved factories from closing down.
“Our policies prevented the economy from collapsing,” he said.
The prime minister said the government had taken several steps to avoid imposing a complete lockdown, as he noted that the agricultural activities were running as usual.
The premier said cotton production had increased by 81%. Talking about the “benchmark” to know how farmers were earning more, he said, record-breaking motorcycle and tractor sales were witnessed in the country.
“Urea was used 23% more — indicating that the conditions were getting better. And when the farmers are happy, the production increases, and in return, it benefits the country,” he said.
In construction, there are Rs600 billion projects underway, as we had incentivised it, he said, adding that in the industrial sector, the large scale manufacturing had increased by 13% — more money and more jobs in the country.
“We had [allowed] construction industry to operate; we tried to save our exports as if they would have stopped, then the dollar would have gone up against the rupee,” he said.
Due to the government’s policies, rice production had gone up by 13.6%, corn 8%, sugarcane 22%, wheat 8% — and this is “record breaking”.
Earlier, Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry had disclosed that PM Imran Khan would announce the “biggest relief package of the country’s history” in his address to the nation today.
Taking to his official Twitter handle, the minister reiterated that the premier’s first priority is to alleviate the sufferings of the people and he will go to any lengths to provide them relief.
Chaudhry further wrote that Imran Khan will announce a historic relief package in order to address the problems faced by the Pakistanis.
“This package will be a milestone in reducing the hardships of the people and making their lives easier,” he added.
Earlier on Tuesday, sources had told Geo News the PM is expected to take the nation into confidence on the secretive deal that the government had struck with the proscribed Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP).
The prime minister is expected to speak to the nation about the current economic, security, and political situation in the country, sources had said.
Later in the day, addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Chaudhry had said the premier would also take the nation into confidence about the government’s economic policies in his televised address.
The development comes after the government started to implement a secretive agreement signed with the proscribed outfit as reports suggested more than 800 supporters of the group had been released across Punjab in line with the deal.
PM meets coalition partners
In a meeting with the government’s coalition partners on Tuesday, the premier took the lawmakers into confidence over the agreement with the proscribed TLP.
From MQM-P, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Federal Minister for Information and Technology Aminul Haque, and Federal Minister for Law Farogh Naseem had attended the meeting, while Minister for Interior Sheikh Rasheed represented Awami League, Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Fehmida Mirza represented GDA, Federal Minister for Water Resources Moonis Elahi had represented PML-Q.
The meeting’s participants had deliberated upon calling a joint session of the parliament. The coalition partners had also assured the premier that they would stand on the same page on important national issues, according to sources.