A delegation of nine World Bank’s directors has arrived in Pakistan, which marks the first such visit for two decades.
The delegation meets with the Prime Minister, Finance Minister, Minister of Planning, Minister of Energy and Minister of Economic Affairs to discuss the effective implementation of $ 40 billion in funding.
The delegation will discuss strategies for effective implementation of the country’s partnership framework.
In addition, the delegation will visit the provinces to review development initiatives and formulate strategies. The team is scheduled to visit Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan.
Previously, the World Bank Vice President of South Asia, Martin Raiser, declared that lending of $ 20 billion will be inadequate to achieve the 10 years of development goals, and Pakistan will have to mobilize more resources to overcome his challenges.
In a statement issued after a week’s long visit to Pakistan, Raiser seemed to balance the optimism around the $ 20 billion framework with Pakistan’s actual financing need to tackle the human capital crisis.
“The support of the World Bank Group will not be sufficient to achieve the ambitious goals stated. Attracting investment in the private sector by improving the business climate is thus the need for the hour,” Raiser said in a statement issued by the country office after the end of the visit.
Meanwhile, Pakistan has begun to prepare to secure an additional $ 1.5 billion loan program from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), with negotiations scheduled to take place later this month.
Two IMF delegations are expected to visit Pakistan to conduct an economic review for both the new loan program and the next Tranche of the already -approved $ 7 billion program.
The total discussions will cover a total loan amount of $ 2.5 billion.
According to sources, an IMF delegation will visit Pakistan on February 24 to negotiate $ 1.5 billion concession loans. This new loan program is reportedly aimed at tackling the damage caused by climate change.
