Karachi: The Sindh government has announced its decision to introduce a pro-poor initiative and allocated PKR 20 billion in Budget 2020-21 for the purpose, a news source reported on August 5. Under the programme, the provincial executive will provide financial assistance to the people affected by the coronavirus pandemic from next month onward.
Sindh Chief Secretary Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah expressed his views on the matter during a meeting of the steering committee formed for the purpose of implementing the ‘Pro-Poor Social Protection and Economic Sustainability Initiatives’. The government has set aside PKR 34 billion in total for providing assistance to citizens under various initiatives pertaining to food security, inflation and unemployment.
According to the chief secretary, an additional PKR 5 billion has been allocated for soft loan programme for small and medium enterprises, while PKR 1 billion will be utilised to subsidise rice seeds and another billion will be used for the provision of pesticides on subsidised rates.
