Prime Minister Imran Khan has offered help to neighbouring India to help it overcome the coronavirus crisis, saying he was willing to share Pakistan’s successful cash transfer programme.
Sharing a news report claiming that 34% of household across India ‘will not be able to survive more than a week without add (additional) assistance’', the prime minister said, “I am ready to offer help and share our successful cash transfer prog, lauded internationally for its reach and transparency, with India”.
Describing the programme in another tweet, the prime minister said the Pakistani government had successfully transferred more than Rs100 billion to 10 million families.
Acc to this report, 34% of households across India will not be able to survive for more than a week without add assistance. I am ready to offer help & share our successful cash transfer prog, lauded internationally for its reach & transparency, with India.https://t.co/CcvUf6wERM
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) June 11, 2020
“Our govt successfully transferred Rs120 billion in 9 weeks to over 10 million families in a transparent manner to deal with the COVID19 fallout on the poor.”
In April, the Pakistani government started distributing coronavirus relief funds to the needy, a much-awaited step by the affectees of the lockdown which was then imposed to curb the spread of the virus.
According to Dr Sania Nishtar, who is in charge of the programme, 12 million families have received Rs12,000 each under the initiative. A budget of Rs144 billion was approved for the plan, according to Dr Nishtar.
A report published on Tuesday by the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School said that Indian economy was in "dire" straits as a lockdown to curb the spread of the deadly coronavirus has led to a whopping majority of households experiencing slashed incomes.