Government decides to seek $42 million loan from WB for poverty alleviation

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday chaired meeting of the Economic Advisory Council in Islamabad, where important decision were made.

The Economic Advisory Council decided to seek $42 million dollar loan from the World Bank for Poverty Alleviation Programme, sources said.

Sources said the previous government had recommended the proposal to the concerned agency of the World Bank and the PTI government has decided to pursue it.

The advisory council also approved to allocate Rs 5 billion for Naya Pakistan Housing project. The said amount would be released under PSDP.

Meanwhile, the statement issued by the government says the meeting was briefed on the policy recommendations for Mobilizing Finance for Development, Enhancing Exports & Strengthening SMEs, Tax Reforms, Job Creation Impact of Major Policy Actions and Social Protection Priorities in Pakistan, in the light of the deliberated proposals of the working groups of the Economic Advisory Council.

The policy recommendations were finalized to focus on acceleration of under utilized areas including Agriculture, Housing, Small & Medium Enterprises in terms of incentives, reliance on export oriented and labour intensive growth, reversal of anti-export bias, enhanced system automation and use of technology, transparency in trade regime, facilitating importers, job creation through skill development, ease of doing business through business friendly environment while focusing on productivity and moving on technology sophistication.

Prime Minister Imran Khan approved the policy recommendations for a Medium Term Structural Reform Framework of the Economy.

He also approved a Social Protection Framework to ensure the vulnerable segments of the society are protected.

The comprehensive social protection framework aims at overcoming the challenges of poverty, health, stunted growth, education and enabling the youth realise their potential and extricate themselves out of generational poverty traps.

Finalization of these policies is for laying the foundation of a sustainable, inclusive, job creating and export oriented economic growth strategy as part of the Government's 100 Days Plan.

Minister for Finance Asad Umar, Minister for Planning Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar, Adviser to PM Dr. Ishrat Hussain, Syed Saleem Raza, Former Governor State Bank, Dr. Naved Hamid, Professor at Lahore School of Economics, Sakib Sherani, Economist, Dr. Faisal Bari, Associate Professor at LUMS, Dr. Asad Zaman, VC Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Dr. Abid Qayyum Sulehri, ED Sustainable Development Policy Institute, Governor State Bank Mr. Tariq Bajwa, Secretary Finance Arif Ahmad Khan, Advisor/Executive Director General (IERU) Dr. Khaqan Hassan Najeeb and other senior officials were present during the meeting.