ISLAMABAD:Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety, Faisal Karim Kundi Tuesday emphasized that the international community needed to adopt a common plan of action to overcome climate change and other problems including economic crisis.
He was addressing the 38th COMCEC Conference at Ministerial Level in Turkey.
Speaking on the occasion, Faisal Karim Kundi said that COVID-19 had affected the lives of millions of people in Pakistan and also had a negative impact on the country’s economy.
The government of Pakistan, in order to overcome economic difficulties, had allocated 1.23 billion US dollars for 16.9 million affected families, he added.
The government had distributed USD 75 per family among those families which suffered economic loss due to the COVID-19 through Benazir Income Support Program (BISP), Faisal Karim Kundi said.
These families were identified through the National Socio-Economic registry (NSER) Survey of BISP, he said.
The SAPM said that Pakistan had achieved poverty reduction targets ahead of schedule.
He said that during the pandemic, the government also ensured proper enforcement of lockdown in the COVID-19 affected areas to control the spread of pandemic.
Talking about the recent floods, the SAPM said that Pakistan had faced worst floods which affected the lives of 33 million people across the country.
As a part of relief efforts, the government had disbursed 312 million US dollars among 2.7 million flood-affected families through BISP, he added.
He said that BISP also introduced nutrition program for more than 12000 pregnant, lactating mothers and their children under the BISP Nashonuma Programme to ensure mother and child health.