PBS Survey validates sharp V-Shaped recovery in COVID: Umar

The Federal Minister for Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives Asad Umar has said that the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) Survey revealed that the sharp V-Shaped recovery was observed that resulted in almost all job losses being recovered in a few months.

“The positive things validated by the PBS report on COVID are: very large number of households confirming that they got support from government through Ehsaas programme, secondly the sharp V shaped recovery which resulted in almost all job losses being recovered in a few months,” he said in a tweet post.

“During COVID-19 1st wave more than 20 million people experienced loss of livelihood. 54% said they reduced non food expenses, 50% switched to lower quality or lesser quantity of food. 47% say they dipped into their savings to meet expenses. 30%said they took loans from friends/relatives,” he said while sharing PBS survey figures.

A survey of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) revealed that in Pakistan 35 percent of population which is 10 years of age and older (approximately 55.74 million) was working before the onset of Covid-19, but due to the closure of activities after lockdowns, it is observed that this had declined to 22 percent (35.04 million approximately).

However, it is found that the recovery process started and 33 percent of population reported working after April–July 2020 i.e. approximately 52.56 million - almost a V-shape recovery.