November 16, 2020 – Islamabad: The Prime Minister chaired a meeting of the Policy Committee overseeing the Prime Minister’s COVID Relief Fund to review fund utilization details. The fund was established in March 2020 to raise funds for COVID 19 affectees. The fund received generous donations from within Pakistan and overseas. 4.8 Billion accumulated in the fund of which 1.08 was donated by international donors and 3.8 billion was contributed domestically. Earlier this year, the PM had publicly announced two policies with respect to this fund, committing that these funds would be disbursed through Ehsaas Emergency Cash to assist COVID 19 job loss affectees. Secondly, a “matching funds policy” was announced which stipulated that for every rupee donated into the fund, Rs. 4 would be matched by the Government. To fulfill this promise, Rs. 19.55 Billion have been matched by the Government—in total 24.43 billion. This amount has supported 2 million families, each of which received Rs. 12,000 each as Ehsaas Emergency cash through this funding stream (out of the total of 15 million who received Ehsaas Emergency cash).
