ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Finance has described as factually inaccurate a news report published in a section of the press saying that the ‘PTI govt to use Covid-19 fund for interest payment’.

In an official statement released, the Ministry of Finance has clarified that the Prime Minister COVID Relief Fund is to be utilized solely for providing cash assistance to the most vulnerable households and daily wagers. The government has scaled up emergency cash assistance to cover 16 million most vulnerable households due to the COVID 19 crisis, from 5 million households earlier.

The ECC decision was to allocate Rs 10 billion towards the interest payment of Rs 200 billion PES II issued on 20th May 2020, from the Fiscal stimulus package of Rs 1.2 trillion. The government had earmarked Rs 100 billion for relief on power & gas for the citizens of Pakistan in the fiscal stimulus package. Towards this end, the government has already provided relief on utility bills for the next three months for the poorest households.