ISLAMABAD: The International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank has increased its investments in Pakistan with a focus on renewable energy and loans to banks to boost financial inclusion especially for small and medium enterprises.

IFC committed a total of $1.2 billion investments in the country in 2014-15, of which $767 million was in long-term finance projects, backing private sector investments in key projects to boost development and growth in the country.

“Millions of people lack access to power or basic financial services,” said IFC Country Manager for Pakistan Nadeem Siddiqui.

“Our aim is to help tackle both by providing new cleaner energy sources to spur development and strengthen the country’s financial sector to boost inclusion and shared prosperity,” he said.

In one of its biggest equity investments in the country, IFC invested $125m in China Three Gorges South Asia, to support a series of hydro, solar and wind projects that are expected to provide electricity to more than 11m people and boost generation capacity by 15 per cent.

To cut Pakistan’s reliance on imported fossil fuels, IFC invested a total of $205m, including mobilisation of $155m from MIGA and other lenders, in the Gulpur Hydro project and invested $15m in Gul Ahmed Wind Power to help build a new 50-megawatt wind farm in Sindh province.

To boost financial inclusion, IFC provided a loan of up to $150m to Pakistan’s Habib Bank Ltd, as well as an equity investment of $75m, to support its growth and help the bank launch programmes targeting women depositors, and agricultural and rural borrowers.

IFC also invested $67m to help Bank Alfalah grow its operations and increase lending to SMEs and the agri-sector, as well as explore new areas like sustainable energy finance.

Published in Dawn, August 15th, 2015

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