WASHINGTON: Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has shared progress on economic reforms during his meeting with the president of the World Bank Group Ajay Banga in Washington.
Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb – on a visit to Washington to attend the spring meetings arranged by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank – underlined Pakistan’s progress under the IMF’s nine-month Stand-By Arrangement and ongoing reforms in priority areas of taxation, energy and privatization, Ministry of Finance said in a statement.
The statement said that both sides agreed on the need for a rolling Country Framework Plan for ten years.
The ongoing 3 billion dollar SBA programme was signed last year in summer and will expire this month. Pakistan is likely to receive the final tranche of 1.1 billion dollars later in April.
Islamabad has also started discussions with the global lender over a new multi-billion-dollar loan deal to support its economic reform programme.
The World Bank president assured his full support for reforms and digitalization programmes of Pakistan to stabilise the economy and enhance revenues.
Moreover, the Finance Minister invited the World Bank president to visit Pakistan.
Pakistan-Asian Development Bank Partnership
Aurangzeb also held a meeting with the President of the Asian Development Bank Masatsugu Asakawa.
Their discussions focused on further strengthening the partnership between Pakistan and the Asian Development Bank, the statement said.
The finance minister also met with CEO, US International Development Finance Corporation Scott Nathan.
During the meeting, both explored ways for the expansion of DFC’s investments in Pakistan following the amicable resolution of outstanding problems, according to the statement.
Aurangzeb informed that Pakistan’s government was encouraging innovative financing models to leverage private sector investment and Public-Private Partnership (PPP) potential.
He assured that the government was committed to extending all possible support to investment initiatives by any local and foreign investors in Pakistan.
