ISLAMAABD: The World Bank’s Economic Revitalization Project Steers Emergency (ERKP) that funds the Covid-hit small businesses in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP), has provided matching grants to 2,723 SMEs, of which 206 are owned by women, resulting in the direct and indirect creation or restoration of more than 13,000 jobs.
The Bank in its latest report, “South Asia & the World Bank; Stories of Resilience & Recovery”, stated that Covid-19 exacerbated Pakistan’s underlying health challenges such as low immunization rates, malnutrition, and maternal mortality. At the same time, the closure of all non-essential businesses in April 2020 and the disruption of domestic supply chains created more problems for already-stressed micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and threatened jobs, especially those in the informal sector.
The ERKP is financed through a multi-donor trust fund (MDTF) and provides matching grants to crisis-affected MSMEs, benefiting all types of small businesses from private schools to tour operators and beauty salons.
With the pandemic, the ERKP was restructured in June 2020 to align it with the provincial government’s social and economic strategy for coping with Covid-19. The Bank introduced new flexibility in the matching grants program under the ERKP, allowing clients to process the grant applications from the pandemic-hit MSMEs on a priority basis to support immediate jobs restoration.
The total amount of the project was $39 million (grant from the multi-donor trust fund for crisis-affected areas of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa/ merged districts/ Balochistan).
Since it began, the ERKP has provided matching grants to 2,723 SMEs, of which 206 are owned by women, resulting in the direct and indirect creation or restoration of more than 13,000 jobs.
Matching grants for 15 SMEs affected by Covid-19were approved in November 2020.
The project also procured and deployed 55 ventilators, personal protective equipment, and nebulizers to health facilities across the province between June-October 2020.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022