http://digitalrepository.fccollege.edu.pk/handle/123456789/943 2026-06-24T04:11:21Z 2026-06-24T04:11:21Z Rasheed, Rizwan Rizwan, Asfra Javed, Hajra Sharif, Faiza Zaidi, Asghar http://digitalrepository.fccollege.edu.pk/handle/123456789/2386 2024-10-19T09:51:18Z 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Socio-economic and environmental impacts of COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan—an integrated analysis Authors: Rasheed, Rizwan; Rizwan, Asfra; Javed, Hajra; Sharif, Faiza; Zaidi, Asghar Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected about 210 countries with more than 67 million confirmed cases and over 1.5 million deaths across the globe including Pakistan. Considering the population density, health care capacity, existing poverty and environmental factors with more than 420,000 infected people and about 8300 plus mortalities, community transmission of the coronavirus happened rapidly in Pakistan. This paper analyses the short- and long-term effects of COVID-19 peak on the socio-economic and environmental aspects of Pakistan. According to the estimates, an economic loss of about 10%, i.e. 1.1 trillion PKR, will be observed in the FY 2021. Certain pandemic impediment measures like lockdowns, social distancing and travel restrictions taken by the Government have been thoroughly analysed to determine how they impacted the livelihoods of nearly 7.15 million workers. Consequently, a rise of 33.7% of poverty level is projected. While many negative impacts on primary, secondary and tertiary sectors of the economy such as agriculture, education and health care are observed, a drastic improvement in air quality index of urban centres of the country has been recorded amid lockdowns. With current economic crisis, fragile health care system and critical health literacy, a well-managed and coordinated action plan is required from all segments of the society led by the public authorities. Thorough assessment of COVID-19 scenario, management and control measures presented in this study can be assistive for the provision of policy guidelines to governments and think tanks of countries with similar socio-economic and cultural structure.

2021-01-01T00:00:00Z Ali, Amjad Ahmed, Mumtaz Hassan, Nazia http://digitalrepository.fccollege.edu.pk/handle/123456789/975 2020-11-22T19:20:32Z 2020-08-04T00:00:00Z

Title: Socioeconomic impact of COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from rural mountain community in Pakistan Authors: Ali, Amjad; Ahmed, Mumtaz; Hassan, Nazia Abstract: This study examines the trend of the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Pakistan and to explore the community perception of the socioeconomic impact of COVID-19 pandemic in a rural mountain area of Pakistan. An online survey was conducted through snowball sampling technique and total 367 people participated in the survey. The results of the study show that COVID-19 cases spiked amid ease of lockdown in the country and the spread of novel coronavirus pandemic has significant socioeconomic impact on the lives of mountain communities in Gilgit-Baltistan. Financial uncertainty, decrease in income, fear of job loss, and food insecurity are some major challenges that mountain communities face due to outbreak of coronavirus in the region. The results further show that lack of community cooperation with government agencies, lack of awareness about the severity of coronavirus, and insufficient COVID-19 testing kits are the major factors that caused the spread of coronavirus cases. This study suggests that the short-, medium-, and long-term policies are required to mitigate the consequences of this pandemic and to revitalize the mountain economy of Gilgit-Baltistan, and in this regard, this study provides baseline information for policy-makers and practitioners to devise such demanding policies.

2020-08-04T00:00:00Z Raza, Ali Ali, Qamar Hussain, Tanveer http://digitalrepository.fccollege.edu.pk/handle/123456789/974 2020-11-22T19:20:14Z 2020-10-04T00:00:00Z

Title: Role of knowledge, behavior, norms, and e-guidelines in controlling the spread of COVID-19: evidence from Pakistan Authors: Raza, Ali; Ali, Qamar; Hussain, Tanveer Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic is straining public health systems and the global economy, triggering unprecedented measures by governments around the globe. The adoption of a preventive measure is required to control the spread. This research explores the impact of influencing factors like COVID-19 knowledge, behavioral control, moral and subject norms, preventive e-guidelines by the government, and environmental factors on the intention to prevent COVID-19 and risk aversion. A cross-sectional study was performed of 310 respondents about different COVID-19 related influencing factors in Pakistan. The partial least squarestructural equation modeling was applied to estimate the path coefficient. Moral and subject norms (0.359) had a comparatively higher path coefficient. Other influencing factors/drivers were preventive e-guideline by the government (0.215) followed by COVID-19 knowledge (0.197), and behavioral control (0.121). The intention to prevent COVID-19 showed a positive and significant impact (0.705) on risk aversion. The indirect analysis also confirmed that the positive influence of moral and subject norms, COVID-19 knowledge, preventive e-guideline by the government, and behavioral control on risk aversion. However, the path coefficient of environmental factors was negative but insignificant, which implies than environmental factors do not influence the intention to prevent COVID-19. It is suggested to provide clear guidelines using print, social, electronic media. It is also suggested to provide e-guidelines in local languages. The COVID-19 knowledge about its transmission, symptoms, and precautions is also useful. It is suggested to include the causes, symptoms, and precaution of viral diseases in the educational syllabus. The government should ensure the availability of preventivemedical items like surgicalmasks and sanitizers tomeet the demand of the public.

2020-10-04T00:00:00Z Salik, Kashif Majeed http://digitalrepository.fccollege.edu.pk/handle/123456789/973 2020-11-22T19:19:58Z 2020-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Remittances and COVID-19: Is Pakistan ready for a likely decline in flows? Authors: Salik, Kashif Majeed Abstract: The spread of COVID-19, an unprecedented anomaly of our times, is so wide and rapid that even most advanced economies are unable to respond to it quickly and appropriately. If this situation persists longer, not only the global health system may collapse but also there are apprehensions of large-scale socioeconomic meltdown. The Global North is currently the most-affected region due to Coronavirus outbreak where most of the governments have clamped complete lockdowns (Map A). These countries not only drive the global economy, trade and politics but also paved the way for labour migration from the Global South, which is underdeveloped or least developed. The Global South is heavily dependent on financial remittances from migrants. In 2019, the global flow of remittances to developing countries was recoded US$ 550 billion, which is larger than Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Official Development Assistance (ODA) (Plaza et al. 2019). This flow of remittances helped the developing countries to reduce poverty, overcome food insecurity, support balance of payments, and contribute to national economic growth. Pakistan is among top 10 recipients of global remittances (Plaza et al. 2019). In 2019, Pakistan received Rs 21.8 billion foreign remittances, which contribute to about 8 per cent of its GDP. In the meantime, the migrant workers in GCC countries dropped to about 60 per cent in 2018 compared to 2015, which is mainly due to the nationalization policies opted by these countries (Plaza et al. 2019). The decline in demand for Pakistani migrant workers is alarming and needs immediate attention of the government. Likewise, the strict regulations imposed by the European Union against refugees and asylum seekers during the migrants crisis in 2019 also aggravated the situation. In this backdrop, this policy review looks into the ways how COVID-19 spread can impact remittance flows and what should be the policy options to mitigate this impact.

2020-01-01T00:00:00Z