Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has focused on increasing the labour force participation rate, especially the female, job creation and promoting decent work.

According to the Annual development Plan 2021-22, around 25 percent funds are envisaged to be kept for female entrepreneurs under the Prime Minister’s Kamyab SME lending programme.

The 2nd phase of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is expected to create job opportunities with the establishment of Special Economic Zones (SEZs).

Prime Minister’s Naya Pakistan Housing Construction Initiative is expected to create approximately 2 million jobs.

An economic stimulus package will also be introduced to aid Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) for greater value addition and to support job creation in the country.

There are over 5 million SMEs across the country which contribute 35 percent to GDP and employ about 40 percent of the workforce with different skill sets.

Under the Prime Minister’s “Green Growth Stimulus Package”, an additional 200,000 livelihoods are targeted during 2021-22.

Establishment of a National Parks Service and support sanitation activities, including storm and flood water management, rainwater, harvesting, solid and liquid waste management and hospital waste disposal across 20 main cities of the country is expected to create significant employment opportunities, it added.