Pakistan, France sign €100mln loan accord

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and France signed a 100 million Euros credit facility agreement for the sustainable energy sector reforms program, a statement said on Wednesday.

Tariq Mahmood Pasha, secretary of Economic Affairs Division (EAD), René Consolo from France embassy, and Jacky Amprou, country director of the French Agency for Development (AFD) signed the agreement.

Earlier, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) also approved $300 million in co-financing for the same program so the total loan amount would come at around $410 million, which will be utilised for energy sector reform program to overcome losses of cash bleeding energy sector.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar congratulated EAD and AFD on the signing of the agreement.  Minister said the importance of reforms in the energy sector will directly affect economic growth. 

He appreciated AFD’s continuous support for development projects in Pakistan. “With signing of this agreement, economic cooperation between Pakistan and France will further be strengthened,” he said.

The main objective of the program is to revamp the energy sector to make it more affordable, reliable and sustainable, supporting the country’s economic growth, and alleviating the energy crisis through expeditious implementation of the national power policy 2013.

The reform program will help in improving the financial viability of power sector by better managing tariff and subsidies, improving sector performance and opening up the market to private participation. The program will also facilitate in improving the transparency as well as accountability of power sector institutions.