Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan said that after assuming the charge in 2018, his first objective was to stabilise the country but the coronavirus pandemic hit the world and caused inflation. However, he vowed that the government will overcome this problem like the pandemic.

While answering public telephone calls on Sunday, the premier said the outflow of dollars to Afghanistan was also a major factor of inflation in the country as it built pressure on the Pakistani rupee.

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PM Khan said ‘The Economist’ thrice ranked Pakistan among the top three countries which profoundly handled the pandemic.

He said the health card initiative was launched to remove the financial burden from the families, adding that the rural population will also be able to get treatment from private hospitals through the card.

He said the government is trying to facilitate the private sector by providing lands at cheaper rates for establishing private healthcare facilities and slashing duties on imported medical equipment.

Imran Khan urged the people to wear face masks to counter the fifth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. He also reiterated that the government is not going to shut down any businesses. He said the pandemic benefitted the rich while the poor segment of society was crushed.

Citing figures of the World Bank (WB), the PM said the poverty has reduced in the country during the tenure of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.

He said people applied for loans worth Rs290 billion for the construction of properties while Rs40 billion have so far been disbursed by private banks.

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PM Khan said the government gave incentives to the Information Technology (IT) sector and the exports went up. The country will only progress by scaling exports, he added.

Citing a report by ‘Bloomberg’, he said Pakistan’s economy is moving towards sustainable growth.