PESHAWAR: The planning and development department has prepared a three-year economic recovery plan in the post-pandemic circumstances.

Chief Minister Mahmood Khan will unveil the Rs29 billion Azm-i-Nau (The Spirit of KP) plan today (Thursday).

Chief secretary Dr Kazim Niaz and additional chief secretary Shakeel Qadir Khan will also be present on the occasion, said a statement issued here on Wednesday.

The plan is meant to overcome the socioeconomic fallout caused by the Covid-19 pandemic through 43 interventions in nine key development sectors, said the statement.

According to it, the comprehensive multi-sectoral plan builds on local strengths and embraces global trends as the provincial government’s medium-term and long-term strategy to revive the province’s economy.

Initiative to address socioeconomic fallout caused by pandemic

“Nine key sectors referred to as pillars in the economic recovery plan include economic growth, education, emergency response, governance, health, jobs for development, public works, small and medium enterprise, and social protection.

“Under the plan, the economic recovery will aim to minimise the effects of job losses, provide economic stimulus for the revival of affected businesses and implement public sector interventions to create short-term jobs, medium-term service delivery and long-term development outputs,” it said.

The statement said after the crisis management of immediate Covid-19 shocks on economy and employment in the province, the planning and development department had set its focus on the medium-term and long-term plans to set the direction of public sector investments in the post-pandemic period.

It added that the Azm-i-Nau plan was the socioeconomic development framework to help steer the delivery of goods and services in putting the economy back on track.

According to the statement, the planning and budgeting of economic recovery plan has been aligned to the provincial financial budget, annual development programme and Accelerated Implementation Programme for 2020-21 to ensure priority implementation and funds availability.

In March 2020, the planning and development department moved swiftly to offset the economic and employment repercussions of the Covid-19 outbreak.

In this regard, the department took the Vital Economic Operations Management initiative for the smooth supply of essential commodities while ensuring the success of lockdowns, and other administrative decisions.

The statement said the department prepared an immediate policy response titled Coping Strategy to focus on the immediate-term aspects of potential unemployment, supply disruption and inflationary pressure.

The department has been working closely with international development partners, such as the United Nations Development Programme since the outbreak of the virus and has created collaborative platforms for contributions from all development stakeholders.

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2020