Plea to ease WB and ADB loan terms readied

Pakistan has decided to request WB and ADB to either ease the conditions of a $3 billion loan.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has decided to request the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to either ease the conditions of a $3 billion loan or to not allocate money for the loan from previous funds provided for infrastructure projects in the country.

According to an official from the ministry of finance, the current ADB loan of $2 billion consists of around $1.5 billion allocated from funds previously provided by the institution for infrastructure projects. The infrastructure loans also have stricter conditions and a higher interest rate, he added.

Similarly, the WB loan of $1 billion consists of $900 million transferred from development projects. It must be mentioned that progress on these projects has been painfully slow, the source said.

As a result, it has been decided that the country will put forth a request for new and separate funds for rehabilitation and reconstruction after floods and resist the proposal to divert funds away from slow-moving development projects, according to the source.

He added that if these funds are transferred from development projects, then the conditions attached should be relaxed and the interest rate lowered.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 18^th, 2010.