December 15, 2001	Saturday	Ramazan 29, 1422

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

ISLAMABAD, Dec 14: The Asian Development Bank will provide approximately one billion dollars in 2002 for carrying out civil reforms, improving provincial resource management and developing capital market in Pakistan.

“Pakistan government’s response to the Sept 11 event, and its role as a front-line state in the war against international terrorism has demonstrated its commitment to promoting Pakistan’s economic and social development and establishing it as a modern, progressive state,” said an ADB representative.

“ADB has strongly supported the government in its reform efforts and will continue to do so to achieve the shared objectives of poverty reduction and economic development,” he stated.

The ADB representative told the Paris Club meeting in Paris on Wednesday, the details of which were released by the Pakistan’s finance minister, that Islamabad deserved increased funding by the international donors to continue improving its economy.

“Over the last two years, the government has established a strong track record in implementing reforms to address governance and longstanding structural challenges facing Pakistan,” he said. For the year 2001, the bank had approved $957 million which also included additional $325 million and was offered following the Sept 11 events that substantially hit the Pakistani economy.

The ADB, he pointed out, was in the process of preparing a three-year new Country Strategy and Programme (2002-2004) for Pakistan which will be the basis of its operation in the future.

He said that ADB operations had been guided by its Country Operational Framework which had the following three principal objectives: improving economic efficiency and export competitiveness, human and social development, and governance and institutional strengthening. Constant to that, he said, the ADB provided $707 million in 2000.

The ADB representative said that over the past two years, Pakistan had been successfully implementing an ambitious programme of economic stabilisation and reforms. “We believe that the agreement between Pakistan and the Paris Club is not only vital for supporting Pakistan’s continued poverty reduction strategy as manifested in the three-year arrangements under the IMF’s Poverty Reduction Growth Facility (PRGF) approved in December, 2001, but also put Pakistan firmly on the path of sustainable long-term growth required for poverty reduction,” he added.

“We strongly support the objectives of the Paris Club meeting and remain committed to working with the government and bilateral and multilateral donors for Pakistan’s economic and social development,” the ADB representative added.

During the recent past, he said, the government of Pakistan had increasingly focussed its development efforts on poverty reduction and ADB was supporting these efforts through assistance for the development of macro-finance, education and health sectors as well as for road and area development projects.

The government, he pointed out, had also initiated reforms in a number of sectors which were being supported by ADB’s policy-based operations. For example, under the Capital Market Development Programme Loan approved in 1999, the government of Pakistan initiated reform measures in the capital markets, including establishment of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and strengthening the governance of the stock exchanges under the Trade Promotion and Industry Programme loan.

The government was implementing measures to liberalise the enabling environment for strengthening exports, to introduce anti-dumping legislation and notify rules pertaining to a No Duty, No Drawback regime, he added.