FARUKH SHEHZAD

NEWS DESK

Notwithstanding, the recent rise in COVID cases, Pakistan has been showing signs of a fragile economic recovery with a gradual resumption of economic dynamism, according to a new World Bank report.

Pakistan’s economic growth is expected to reach 1.3 percent in FY2021 and strengthen to an average of 2.7 percent for FY2022-23, according to the Pakistan Development Update released. The baseline economic growth forecast, however, is highly uncertain, especially given the third and more-contagious wave of the pandemic currently circulating in the country.

Private consumption is estimated to have picked up over July to December 2020, in part due to the record increase in remittances inflows, social assistance support from the Ehsaas program, the government’s construction package, and a return to pre-COVID mobility levels from September 2020. Investment is also estimated to be recovering, as machinery imports and cement sales both recorded double-digit growth rates during this period.

“It is crucial to sustain the positive reform momentum to continue to boost the competitiveness of Pakistan’s economy and lay a strong foundation for a more robust, inclusive and sustainable recovery,” said Najy Benhassine, World Bank Country Director for Pakistan. “Increasing competitiveness and stimulating private investment and exports will require continued macroeconomic stability, maintenance of a market-determined exchange rate, and improving the business environment to enable all firms, particularly SMEs, to access markets and compete openly in a leveled playing field. The potential for a strong recovery and a growth acceleration is there. Reforms to make it happen need to be further sustained.”

Given the scope and magnitude of the COVID-19 crisis, understanding how the pandemic affected Pakistan’s private sector will be key to informing the design of new policy measures or refining existing ones to prevent widespread long-term firm closures and job losses.

This edition of the Pakistan Development Update also presents the findings of two waves of World Bank Business Pulse Surveys and suggests several key policy measures to further support the recovery of the private sector and the Pakistani economy.

“Despite some recovery in the private sector, many firms remain vulnerable and require support to prevent closures and further job losses. Policy measures that prevent permanent firm closures and further job losses will contribute significantly to sustaining the recovery,” said Derek H. C. Chen, World Bank Senior Economist for Pakistan.

The policy measures that can be considered include enhancing private sector access to formal finance, in particular for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises, streamlining regulatory and administrative requirements to ease compliance costs, and providing support to firms in digitizing and establishing an online presence.

The Pakistan Development Update is a companion piece to the South Asia Economic Focus, a twice-a-year World Bank report that examines economic developments and prospects in the South Asia region and analyzes policy challenges faced by countries. The Spring 2021 edition titled South Asia Vaccinates, launched on March 31, 2021, shows that economic activity in South Asia is bouncing back, but growth is uneven, recovery remains fragile, and the economic outlook is precarious. The report also focuses on the different dimensions of vaccine deployment and provides a cost-benefit analysis of vaccination in the region.

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BUCHAREST, APR 9: Romanian officials plan to launch the first mobile COVID-19 vaccination centers this month in an effort to boost rural access to the vaccine. Valeriu Gheorghita, the coordinator of the national vaccination campaign, said that vaccination in such centers could start on April 20.

“On April 20, we want to start vaccinations at mobile centers; about 20 mobile centers will be set up in a first stage, they will be distributed nationwide, and will be coordinated by the County Committee for Management and Coordination of Intervention in cooperation with military hospitals because all these 20 centers operate with human resources from the Ministry of Defense,” Gheoghita said in a press conference on Tuesday, April 6, according to News.ro.

These mobile centers will go to rural localities where the population doesn’t have access to vaccination centers or family doctors, and will mainly use the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Valeriu Gheorghita also explained.

According to Secretary of State for Health Andrei Baciu, Romania is set to receive more than 8.3 million COVID-19 vaccine doses in April and May, including the first batches of Johnson & Johnson vaccines, Digi24 reported. Currently, Romania uses the Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca vaccines.

“This week, we will receive 134,400 doses from Moderna and 110,564 doses from AstraZeneca. As for the vaccines produced by Pfizer-BioNTech, we will receive 511,000 doses a week, from the information we have for the next two weeks. 512,000 doses will arrive in the last week of April, bringing the total to 2,046,330 doses at the end of April. For Moderna, nothing has changed from the week before, we are talking about a minimum of 280,800 doses for April, and for AstraZeneca, 879,990,” Baciu said.

Romania kicked off the vaccination campaign on December 27. By April 6, more than 2.15 million people received the vaccine: 897,857 got the first dose, and over 1.25 million received both doses.

According to Valeriu Gheorghita, 780,000 people who want to receive the COVID-19 vaccine have signed up on waiting lists by Tuesday, April 6. Most of them are from Bucharest and the counties of Cluj and Prahova.

“At the moment, we have about 780,000 people on the waiting lists. By category, about 60% are people belonging to the general population, included in the third stage of the vaccination campaign, about 32% are people belonging to the vulnerable category, people with chronic diseases, people over 65, people with disabilities, and about 7.5% are individuals working in key areas,” Gheorghita said, according to News.ro.

By areas, more than 150,000 people on waiting lists are from Bucharest, almost 60,000 are from the county of Cluj, 37,000 are from Prahova county, over 29,000 are from Iasi county, and also over 29,000 are from Ilfov county, according to the data presented by Gheorghita.

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COURTESY romania-insider

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BUCHAREST, APR 3: Romania's Environmental Guard intends to buy almost 50 drones equipped with state-of-the-art sensors that will be used to monitor air quality and pollution levels across the country, the institution's head Octavian Berceanu told Digi24. Data collected by the drones will also be used to create maps of risk areas.

"We need drones. We will buy drones with air quality sensors, gas sensors, thermal sensors [...], and multispectral sensors," Berceanu said.

The multispectral sensors will help the authorities determine the level of vegetation degradation, he explained.

After purchasing the drones, the Environmental Guard also plans to use the collected data to create maps of risk areas and issue pollution alerts.

Air pollution is a major issue in Bucharest and other big cities in Romania. In mid-March, for example, the capital has recorded worrying air pollution levels, with many of the sensors of an independent air quality monitoring network showing high particulate matter PM 2.5 and PM 10 pollution levels across the city. At that time, Environmental Guard representatives said the main cause of the spike in air pollution was the illegal burning of used car tires in localities around Bucharest.

According to a report released in October 2020, pollution costs EUR 166 billion per year in Europe. In Bucharest, the annual cost of air pollution is EUR 6.3 billion - the second-highest after London (EUR 11.4 billion). The per capita cost in the Romanian capital is slightly over EUR 3,000.

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COURTESY romania-insider.com

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BUCHAREST, APR 3: An exhibition dedicated to Romanian art opened in the boarding area of Bucharest's Henri Coanda International Airport (also known as the Otopeni Airport).

The exhibition, which will stay open until September 30, is part of the Art Safari Airport Museum - a joint initiative of Art Safari and the Bucharest Airports National Company aimed at promoting Romanian art.

"Following the model of the world's major airports - San Francisco, Istanbul, Amsterdam or Shanghai - whose terminals host exhibits representative for the history and art of the host country, the exhibition showcases at the Bucharest airport will help reveal the national identity through visual art while making the travelers' experience more pleasant,".

The first exhibition hosted by Art Safari Airport Museum is organized in partnership with the Museum of Bucharest. It features paintings by Alexandru Ciucurencu, Vasile Grigore, Ion Musceleanu, Spiru Vergulescu, Ion Grigore, and Zamfir Dumitrescu, as well as contemporary works of art signed by artists such as Sami Briss, Georges Mazilu, Ana Ruxandra Ilfoveanu, Petre Velicu, and Felix Aftene.

The organizers said they plan to renew the exhibition with new themes and artists, most likely once every six months.

"Airports occupy an important place in our lives, being the first stop where people come into contact with another country. That is why we strive to turn the time spent in this space into a unique experience, giving them some clues about what Romania means. The Romanian art is a compelling argument, so in an extremely delicate current context, we support Romanian art by promoting it and presenting it to the public in a dedicated space at the Henri Coanda International Airport," said Cosmin Catalin Pestesan, general manager of the Bucharest Airports National Company.

Art Safari, an independent cultural operator present on the Romanian art scene, is best known for organizing the annual Bucharest Art Pavilion, whose exhibitions have been visited by approximately 195,000 people in the seven editions so far.

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COURTESY romania-insider.com

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