KP chalks out post-crisis economic response strategy
PESHAWAR: In the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, Planning and Development Department Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has identified seven key areas that would be the focus of post-crisis economic response strategy in recent situation.
These areas included emergency healthcare, social protection, jobs creation, small and medium enterprises, public works, emergency response and economic growth, it was revealed in a meeting presided by the Additional Chief Secretary, Shakeel Qadir Khan on Monday.
The Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was working on short-term (one year) and medium-term (three year) strategies for the post-crisis economic recovery in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said a press release issued here after the meeting.
Senior government officials and the representatives of international development partners including UNDP Merged Areas Governance Project, DFID Sub-National Governance Programme and DFID Sustainable Energy & Economic Development Programme attended the meeting.
The meeting focused on converging experience and expertise for devising a practical strategy to drive the provincial economic crisis response.
Lead Economic Adviser of UNDP, Merged Areas Governance Project, Dr. Musharraf Rasool Cyan, highlighted the urgency of priority interventions to spur the provincial economy such as offering financial stimulus for private sector, expediting ADP/AIP schemes with the potential of job creation, ensuring funds availability for technology based transformation and building local systems for district administrations.
The Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was devising a multi-layered Crisis Response Strategy, which included administrative component to oversee lockdowns and the health component to counter public health emergency.
In addition to the dual strategic measures, Planning and Development Department was leading the post-crisis economic recovery component of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Crisis Response Strategy.
The Additional Chief Secretary also emphasized the need for data analyzers based on the ongoing province-wide survey being conducted by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bureau of Statistics to study the adverse impact on economy and the quantum of job losses in various sectors.
The data analyzers would enable the Planning and Development Department in situational analysis, priority setting and resource allocation as part of the post-crisis economic response.
Section Chiefs of the Planning and Development Department as well as the representatives of international development partners were assigned specific tasks on the post crisis economic recovery strategy. - APP