WASHINGTON, Sept 30: World Bank President James D. Wolfensohn Monday urged Pakistan to make greater efforts to ensure that the country’s poor also benefit from the economic reforms introduced by the military government.
“For each and every citizen of Pakistan to live in peace and security, the benefits of today’s efforts must be deepened and sustained and must reach the very poorest,” said the World Bank chief while participating in the joint annual discussion on Pakistan.
“The World Bank remains your partner as long as you stay the course on the road to good governance and an improved standard of living for all,” said Wolfensohn.
He praised the government for “staying (on) the reform course,” and stressed the need for “all citizens” to understand the importance of these reforms.
To improve the investment climate, he said, Pakistan needed to accelerate its GDP growth to five per cent and offered help from the bank’s private arm, the International Finance Corporation, to help achieve this target.
“We have seen Pakistan make a really sustained effort and stick to the ambitious programme of restructuring that it laid out nearly three years ago,” Wolfensohn said.
He said that Pakistan’s poverty reduction programme was on track and that it had made good progress on debt restructuring and building up of reserves.
Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz had told reporters in Washington earlier this week that Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves had now shot up to $8.1 billion, highest in decades.
Wolfensohn also mentioned the privatization of the United Bank, soon to be followed by Habib Bank. “Reforms in tax administration and privatization of oil and gas, while challenging still, are moving ahead,” he added.
He, however, noted that the growth remained slow and restructuring in the water and power sectors and in agriculture was “an ongoing challenge.”
“Pakistan has been at work in a very challenging environment, both internally and due to several big external shocks,” said Wolfensohn.
Referring to the October elections, he welcomed Pakistan’s return to democracy and hoped that despite the expected change, “all citizens remain committed to the restructuring programme on which there is still much work to be done.”
The finance minister thanked the World Bank for its strong programme of support from the International Development Association. “We know that your lending can only be as good as our reform programme. So we appreciate that you have supported us significantly over the past two years.”