IFC aims to up Pak investment to $1 billion

ISLAMABAD: International Finance Corporation (IFC) on Monday said that it aims to increase its program portfolio in Pakistan to over one billion dollars from the current $800 million. 

“The corporation is looking forward to opportunities for increasing private sector investment in Pakistan,” Philippe Le Houerou, executive vice president IFC, said this while talking to a Pakistani delegation headed by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar at the World Bank Group headquarters.

According to a statement issued by the Pakistani embassy in Washington, DC, Houerou, during the meeting, congratulated the Dar on undertaking structural reforms and completing International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme. Thanking Houerou for the corporation’s initiatives, Dar observed that the IFC can support Pakistan's energy projects by channeling private investment to this sector. 

Towards the end of the meeting, Dar invited the IFC official to assist the government of Pakistan in privatisation of some of the state-owned enterprises. The IFC is an international financial institution that offers investment, advisory, and asset management services to encourage private sector development in developing countries.