Prime Minister Imran Khan Wednesday warned that another wave of coronavirus had gripped the country but reiterated his stance that the government will not shut down the economy. He said this while addressing a ceremony organised in Islamabad to launch a fresh policy for Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) sector. Imran laid a special focus on promoting business through facilitation in registration, streamlining of taxes, access to credit and provision of land. The country reported about 5,472 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, the highest since August last year. According to the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), the positivity ratio has reached 9.48 percent. The NCOC, the nerve centre of the government’s anti-pandemic strategy, earlier announced new restrictions in cities with an over 10% positivity ratio as the country battles the fifth wave of the deadly pandemic. Commenting on the new SME policy, he said the government would provide leases to businesses and promote export culture in the country under the new policy. “The land is very expensive in our cities … the government would facilitate the businessmen by providing loans on low interest rates and land on lease,” he added. The premier said in the past, only wealthy traders used to get loans from banks but the government had changed it and even the small traders can avail themselves of this facility. “Action would be taken against those institutions that are creating hurdles in setting up businesses,” he added. Imran said despite having a population of 220 million people, the country’s exports were only $22 billion when the government took over. “Singapore with a population of only five million has an export of over $300 billion… many smaller nations have surpassed us but the government has decided to encourage exports,” he added. The prime minister said inspections from various institutions became a way for bribery, adding that in such a system a large organisation may survive but smaller businesses suffer the most and end up shutting down completely. He said Pakistan was growing at the fastest rate in this region at one point in time but due to the policies of different governments, we faced a downfall. “When our president visited the US in the 1960s, the president of that country came to greet him… Malaysians and Indonesians came here to see what we’re doing right… our bureaucracy was considered one of the best in the world but due to political interference, it went downhill.” Imran said many Pakistanis made a large amount of money abroad but when they invest in Pakistan, they get into losses and end up moving back. “I have seen with my own eyes how people from here went to Manchester and how they made money there,” he added. Talking about the achievements of his government, the prime minister said Pakistan’s exports were at a record high, tax collection was at an all-time high level too whereas the overseas Pakistanis had sent record remittances. “Now we’re trying to automate things… we’re trying to make a strategy with Nadra so we can increase the tax net in the country… we’re a country with a population of 220 million but only 2.2 million pay taxes… a country cannot run this way.” He said investment worth Rs500 million came to Pakistan only via startups during the last few years. “There are many issues and we understand them but the government is committed to resolve them,” he added. Talking about challenges the country faced when the PTI came into power, the premier said despite many challenges and hurdles, the government had shown great progress. “When we came into power, the government was going bankrupt so we had to deal with that first… we rushed to friendly countries and China, the UAE and Saudi Arabia helped us. When we saved the country from bankruptcy, the coronavirus pandemic arrived which was a challenge not only for Pakistan, but also for the entire world. However, due to the right policies, we managed to tackle that situation too,” he added. Imran said it was not only Pakistan facing inflation but the entire world. “But despite this, a record number of mobile phones, motorcycles and cars are being sold in the country.” He further said the policies of the government would soon yield results and many good things for the countrymen will come in near future. He said the government had decided to take a strict action against all those responsible for creating hurdles for any enterprise in export, agriculture, industry or service industry sectors. Imran said Pakistan had a population of 220 million and ranked as second in the world due to the youngest population bulge. In the United States, revolution started from the Silicon Valley where they backed their 25-26 years old people who later became billionaires, he added. Enumerating the issues confronted by the SMEs, he said the land price was expensive for setting up businesses, so the government would extend support in provision of land on lease. The prime minister said Singapore with a population of five million had exports of about 40 billion dollars last year while Malaysia with 33 million population had about 25 billion dollars export.