India / Imran Khan offers to share Pak's cash transfer programme with India, govt responds

New Delhi: In a sharp reply to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s offer to help with the cash transfer technology to aid the poor during the coronavirus pandemic, India reminded its neighbour that the size of the economic relief package extended by New Delhi to its citizens during the pandemic is as large as Pakistan’s GDP.

An official statement from the ministry of external affairs on Thursday also reminded Islamabad that Pakistan had a “debt problem covering 90% of the country’s GDP”.

“Pakistan would do well to recall that they have a debt problem which covers 90% of their GDP. As far as India goes, our stimulus package is as large as the GDP of Pakistan,” said Anurag Srivastava, spokesperson for the foreign affairs ministry.

Imran Khan had earlier today tweeted a news report published in an Indian daily highlighting the suffering of a section amongst the poor in India due to the economic challenges posed by the Covid outbreak, and he claimed that his government was willing to help with its “successful cash transfer programme”, which he boasted was recognised internationally.

“Acc to this report, 34% of households across India will not be able to survive for more than a week without add (sic) assistance. I am ready to offer help & share our successful cash transfer prog, lauded internationally for its reach & transparency, with India,” Pak PM Imran Khan had tweeted.

Khan went on to claim that his government had transferred a total of Rs 120 billion to over 10 million families in a “transparent” manner to deal with the cash crunch faced by the poor due to the pandemic outbreak.

“Our govt successfully transferred Rs. 120 billion in 9 weeks to over 10 million families in a transparent manner to deal with the COVID19 fallout on the poor,” he added.

India on the other hand had announced an economic assistance package worth over Rs 20,000 crore which is 10% of India’s GDP to assist businesses and individuals in mitigating the hardship resulting from the economic impact of coronavirus induced lockdown.