ISLAMABAD – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will support Pakistan with indicative lending of up to $10 billion for various development projects and programs during the next five years, the regional lender said on Monday.
The bank would provide about $2.1 billion out of $3.4 billion funds to support Pakistan’s reform and development programmes during fiscal year 2019 to 2020, says an ADB press release.
The ADB, in addition to the public sector investments, would also continue to increase its private sector operations in Pakistan to stimulate growth and revitalize exports.
Earlier today, ADB held a series of consultations with the Pakistani government to “formulate a new Country Partnership Strategy (CPS), which will guide ADB’s engagement in the country from 2020 to 2024,” it said.
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister for the Petroleum Division Nadeem Babar, Secretary for the Economic Affairs Division Noor Ahmed, ADB Senior Adviser for Central and West Asia Muhammad Ehsan Khan, ADB Country Director for Pakistan Xiaohong Yang, and ADB’s Director for Regional Cooperation and Operations Safdar Parvez, and representatives of the provincial governments attended the consultations.
The announcement follows an approval by the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) last week for a three-year US$6 billion loan to support Pakistan’s economy.
Pakistan became a founding member of ADB in 1966 and since then has received $32 billion in project assistance from the regional lender.
