World Bank agrees to finance Peshawar-Kabul highway

IFC expressed its interest in increasing its portfolio in Pakistan from $800 million to over one billion dollars

WASHINGTON: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, on Monday, claimed that the government has taken concrete measures to bring structural changes for sustainable economic development in the country, reported Radio Pakistan.

Dar made the statement in Washington while talking to Annette Dixon, Vice President of the World Bank (WB) for South Asian region.



During the meeting, the WB agreed in principle to finance the construction of the Peshawar-Kabul highway to improve regional connectivity.

Dar apprised the WB representative that the government had established a microfinance company to extend microfinance facilities to the poorer segments of society. He added that the government was undertaking energy sector projects to overcome load-shedding, a target they aim to achieve by early 2018.

While shedding light on the progress of various power projects in the country, the minister said around 25,000MW projects had been identified and were at different stages of implementation.

He insisted that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led government was giving top priority to the private sector with regards to the implementation of projects related to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

WB’s Dixon appreciated the initiatives being taken by the Pakistani government to ensure sustainable economic development.

During another meeting in Washington with Ishaq Dar, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) – a member of the World Bank Group – expressed its interest in increasing private sector investment in Pakistan.



IFC’s Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer, Philippe Le Houerou, congratulated Dar on undertaking structural reforms and completing the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.

He said that the IFC has a programme portfolio of around $800 million in Pakistan and wanted to increase it to over one billion dollars.

Ishaq Dar thanked the IFC for increasing its programme portfolio in Pakistan. He said that the IFC can support Pakistan's energy sector projects by channeling private investment to this sector.