April 14: It is estimated that the government had to spend Rs 150 billion to address the needs of sectors affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

A meeting of the Council of Ministers had announced relief packages on March 29.

The government has to make most of the spending in the health sector to bail the country out of the current crisis.  The government estimates that a total of Rs 64.14 billion will be spent on treatment of patients, quarantine, health equipment, food supply and incentives for the health workers.

According to the cost estimate of the government, Rs 11.22 billion will be spent in incentives for health workers and doctors deployed in the frontline against coronavirus.

Similarly, government needs Rs 19.6 billion to treat the patients for 100 days. Likewise, Rs 10 billion has been allocated for coronavirus prevention, control and treatment.

The government had also announced food relief packages for the poor families. It is estimated that a budget of Rs 16.20 billion is needed to distribute the food relief for four months.

Besides, Rs 23.58 billion has been allocated for social security relief. The facility will be provided to the workers who have contributed to the social security fund. For that, the government has to contribute Rs 1.8 billion on Social Security Fund. According the Ministry of Finance, the amount will be sufficient for four months.

Also, Rs 12.50 billion has been allotted to provide minimum 50 days jobs under the Prime Minister Employment Program to the ones who have lost their jobs.

Likewise, the government is also preparing to provide livelihood sustenance allowance to the workers in the informal sector. For that, the Finance Ministry has estimated a budget of Rs 10 billion.

According to the ministry, Rs 61.76 billion will be spent for the economic relief. The government also needs to bear loss of Rs 3 billion on income tax relief, Rs 4 billion on electricity charge and Rs 1 billion on other reliefs.

The government has allotted Rs 1 million to each of the 753 local units for transport allowance and compensation. A total of Rs 3.1 billion has been allocated for the purpose.

The government has adopted a strategy to seek foreign assistance and allocation of some amount from the budget of the current Fiscal Year to tackle the crisis created by coronavirus. According to the Revenue Secretary Ram Sharan Pudasaini, the government will ensure that the budget is enough for all these relief packages.