WB emphasizes on timely completion of reforms, development projects

ISLAMABAD: The World Bank on Tuesday emphasized on timely completion of the ongoing policy reforms and development projects in Pakistan.

Hartwig Schafer, vice president, World Bank at a meeting with Omar Ayub Khan, minister for Economic Affairs also commanded the efforts of the government to resolve long outstanding bottlenecks and expedite the project implementation on fast track basis which is evident from the enhanced disbursement during the last fiscal year.

Around 57 projects worth $12.9 billion are under implementation under WB’s financing in priority areas such as education, health, social protection, finance, agriculture, energy and communication across the country.

During the outgoing fiscal year, the government signed sixteen projects worth $3.64 billion with the World Bank.

Both sides discussed the World Bank’s ongoing portfolio, economic reforms and development priorities for the upcoming country partnership framework 2022-2026.

Minister Khan appreciated the World Bank for its global initiative amounting to $12 billion to help developing countries for procuring Covid-19 vaccines. While discussing the future interventions, the minister emphasized on enhanced connectivity in rural areas though improved road and digital networks.

Rural Roads Connectivity is one of the key components for rural development. An efficient and reliable rural road network promotes access to social services such as health facilities & educational institutions and enhanced economic opportunities through increased agricultural income and employment.

Similarly, cold storage is crucial to control the post harvest losses and price fluctuations of perishable commodities.

The minister also highlighted that Pakistan has huge potential to enhance its IT exports.

He proposed that the World Bank may provide technical & financial support to build digital infrastructure including fiber optics network and incubation centers for specialized training & certification of IT experts.

Meanwhile, Schafer also held a meeting with Shaukat Tarin, minister for Finance and Revenue Tarin appreciated the pivotal role currently being played by the World Bank in strengthening governance and service delivery in Pakistan through institutional reforms being undertaken with the support of development partners. The meeting reviewed the progress on World Bank’s two ongoing programs “Resilient Institutions for Sustainable Economy (RISE-II)”and “Program for Affordable and Clean Energy (PACE)” as these programs hold a central position in the government’s social and economic reform paradigm. It was observed that the programs are progressing satisfactorily.