President Imran Khan of Pakistan

The Pakistani government has allocated 50 billion rupees (about $309.2 million) to pay three-month electricity bills of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

This is in a bid to support traders in mitigating their financial loss in COVID-19 outbreak and subsequent lockdown, local media reported Friday.

Realising the woes of the SMEs, the government has allocated the money to provide relief in electricity bills, local daily the News quoted the country’s Minister for Industries and Production, Muhammad Hammad Azhar, as having said.

The relief for the SMEs came after the government gave an incentive package to the major exporters last month by allocating 200 billion rupees for the industrial sector.

Following the government’s relief package to exporters, the business community demanded the prime minister to extend incentive package to the SMEs, which were adversely affected in the wake of the pandemic.

The government has also announced a relief package for providing financial support to different segments affected by the economic slowdown unleashed by the disease, including poverty-struck labourers and jobless daily wagers. ($1 = 161.70 rupees) (Xinhua/NAN)