World Bank country director Najy Benhassine on Friday rejected reports that the international financial institution had criticized Pakistan’s Uraan plan, calling the claims “a false interpretation”.
In a social media post on X (formerly Twitter), Benhassine addressed the confusion caused by articles published on Friday.
He clarified that the reports misinterpreted a specific sentence in the document outlining the new World Bank Group Country Partnership Framework for Pakistan (CPF), which was released earlier this week.
“We are in dialogue with the government of Pakistan to ensure that the implementation of the new partnership framework is fully aligned and comes in support of the implementation of Pakistan’s home-grown national plans at all levels of government,” the post read.
He further clarified that the sentence referred to in the news articles was in no way an assessment of the Uraan plan or any of its sector chapters.
However, reports also said that Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal denied the WB’s claim, stating that the 5E Framework and the Homegrown Economic Plan have been mixed and are supported by sectoral targets.
“A national vision, the 5E Framework to Turnaround Pakistan, has been developed but has yet to be translated into clear sector plans shared by all levels of government, including provincial governments,” said the World Bank’s Country Partnership Framework report released on Wednesday.
