Criteria met: Pakistan eligible for IBRD funding

Benmessaud said Pakistan has again become eligible for the IBRD funding after a lapse of three years.

ISLAMABAD:

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said the government’s next target for foreign exchange reserves was $17 billion, in a meeting with World Bank Country Director Rachid Benmessaoud.

“Our team has set a new target and that is to take our foreign exchange reserves to $17 billion and we shall make every possible effort to achieve this target,” Dar said.

Benmessaud said Pakistan has again become eligible for the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) funding after a lapse of three years.

IBRD funding facility was suspended in March 2012 after Pakistan could not fulfill the required conditions regarding macroeconomic stability at the time.

As Pakistan is now maintaining enough reserves to cover two-and-a-half months of projected imports and has satisfied other criteria of the World Bank under the Country Partnership Strategy (CPS), it will now be able to avail $2 billion worth of IBRD funding during the four-year period of fiscal years 2015-2019. 

Published in The Express Tribune, February 26^th,  2015.

Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.