WB reaffirms support for Islamabad amid FinMin Aurangzeb's 'busy' Washington trip

Washington-based lender World Bank (WB) Wednesday reaffirmed its support for Islamabad's for reforms and digitisation programmes as Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb's maiden Washington trip continues.

Aurangzeb, who is in Washington to hold negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a new bailout package and attend World Bank meetings, met WB President Ajay Banga and apprised him of Pakistan's progress in the ongoing stand-by arrangement (SBA) with the global lender.

Inviting the WB president to visit Pakistan, the finance minister underscored the reforms undertaken by Islamabad with regards to taxation, energy and privatisation.

During the meeting, both sides also agreed upon the need for a 10-year rolling Country Framework Plan.

Separately, Aurangzeb also led the Pakistani delegation's meeting with Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Masatsugu Asakawa which saw the two sides discussing matters pertaining to further enhancing Islamabad's partnership with the ADB protecting the country's envelope of concessional financing and future project pipeline.

Furthermore, during his meeting with United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) CEO, Scott Nathan, FinMin Aurangzeb mulled over the prospects of widening DFC's investment in Islamabad and "amicable resolution of outstanding issues".

During the meeting, the minister apprised the senior DFC official of the government's measures towards improving the country's economy including the steps taken to encourage innovative financing models to leverage private sector investment and the potential of public-private partnerships.

He also reiterated Islamabad's resolve to support investment initiatives taken by local and foreign investors in the country.

Before this, the finmin had a "constructive" meeting with his Saudi counterpart Mohammad AL-Jadaan wherein the latter reiterated support for Pakistan’s economic growth including through investments.

During the meeting, the finance ministers agreed to further broaden the bilateral cooperation and scale up the partnership between Islamabad and Riyadh in diverse fields.