November 8, 2021 (MLN): Pakistan has been ranked first in The Economist’s World Normalcy Index, out of 50 countries.
The Economist’s “normalcy index” aims to track which countries are returning to their pre-pandemic levels, while using eight different indicators of human behaviour that include; Time not at home, retail, office use, public transport, road traffic, flights, cinema and sports attendance.
Pakistan is followed by Nigeria, Britain and Germany on the list which was last updated on Friday.
The easing of restrictions and better mobility, along with the gaining momentum of the vaccination drive, have led to a gradual recovery of the economy.
Speaking on this achievement, Minister of Information & Broadcasting, Ch Fawad Hussain said, “this shows our huge success fighting against the pandemic. “
“The world appreciated Pakistan's brilliant strategy against Corona. We are in a much better position than the rest of the world today,” he tweeted.
He noted that it is a fact that today Pakistan's industry has been revived, the construction sector is fully operational, the agricultural economy is prosperous, IT exports have tripled, the income of workers, farmers and people working in the industrial sector had increased.
He hoped that in six to eight months global commodity prices will also begin to normalize that in turn will provide impetus to Pakistan’s economy.
The normalcy index report said although most of the population in developed countries are vaccinated, still, covid-19 poses a threat. The positivity ratio or cases are likely to increase in the coming months as cold weather in the northern hemisphere forces people to spend more time inside, it added.
In recent months, with the easing of sanctions, the Normalization Index has risen to 79 points (equivalent to the 100 average pre-epidemic behavior) – its highest level since March 2020.
The pre-pandemic level of activity has been set at a score of 100. In recent months, the global normalcy index rose to 79 points as covid-restrictions were eased off- the highest level since March 2020. To highlight, the new restrictions due to a number of new cases found in some countries and the onset of winter in the Northern Hemisphere have reduced it slightly to 76 points in recent weeks.
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