WB chief assures aid for major projects, social sectors
By Ihtasham ul Haque
ISLAMABAD, Aug 15: The World Bank has assured to provide substantial financial and technical assistance especially for adequately improving Pakistan’s physical infrastructure and social sectors.
Official sources told Dawn that the visiting World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz held a detailed meeting with senior Pakistani authorities on Monday and said that his bank would like to offer sizable assistance for strengthening the country’s infrastructure, especially relating to power and energy sectors.
Similarly, he asked how best his bank could support Pakistan in improving its social sectors with a view to alleviating poverty and creating new job opportunities in the country.
During his meeting with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, Adviser on Finance Dr Salman Shah, Governor of SBP Dr Ishrat Hussain, Minister for Privatization and Investment Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, State Minister for Economic Affairs Ms Hina Rabbani Khar and Economic Adviser to the Ministry of Finance Dr Ashfaque Hasan Khan, the World Bank president was informed that Pakistan would like to have sufficient international support for improving its deteriorating infrastructure and social sectors.
This is Mr Wolfowitz’s first visit to Pakistan after assuming the charge of World Bank’s president. Earlier, he served as the US deputy secretary of defence under US Secretary of Defence Donald Ramsfeld.
The WB president is here for a four-day visit during which he would also meet the president, the prime minister, ministers for education, health and other senior government officials.
When contacted Dr Ashfaque Hasan Khan said that Pakistan “has not specifically given its funding requirements” relating to infrastructure and social development to the WB president. “But we were asked how best the WB could support Pakistan particularly keeping in view the economic turnaround that had been achieved during the last five years,” he said.
He said the new WB president was very much impressed by the significant success Pakistan had achieved in improving its economy. “We want to replicate Pakistan’s success story in other developing countries,” Dr Khan quoted the WB president as having said.
Dr Khan, who is also the director-general of Debt Coordination Office, said the WB president believed that Pakistan’s strategic direction would help the country remove poverty and unemployment.
He said Mr Wolfowitz informed the Pakistani authorities that international financial institutions today considered Pakistan a very important country whose funding requirements relating to development should be fulfilled.
“The bank is likely to offer sizable financial assistance to Pakistan to help strengthen its physical infrastructure,” the economic adviser to the ministry of finance said.
He pointed out that one of the main obstacles to development has been inadequate infrastructure which needed to be improved with the help of donor agencies, including the World Bank.
Strengthening the country’s infrastructure, Dr Khan said, was a basic requirement for sustaining growth momentum and that an efficient transport and communication network was a vital element of strong infrastructure.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) had earlier indicated it will extend $250 to $300 million for improving Pakistan’s crumbling infrastructure.
