ISLAMABAD  -  The World Bank (WB) on Saturday has indicated that the joint efforts are targeting disbursements of around $2.0 billion for Pakistan during the current financial year, i.e., 2023-24.

Country Director World Bank called on Minister for Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs and Privatization, Dr Shamshad Akhtar. They discussed and reviewed the overall performance of the World Bank ongoing portfolio in Pakistan, and different options were dis­cussed to further expand collaboration in different priority areas to help boost the economic activities in the country. Dr Shamshad Akhtar, while welcoming the World Bank team, reiter­ated that Pakistan values its development partnership with World Bank. She ap­preciated the efforts of the World Bank management, especially the country team in Islamabad in the econom­ic development of Pakistan.

The Country Director World Bank Mr Najy Binhas­sine, while briefing the Fi­nance Minister on ongoing portfolio, indicated that the World Bank Management, in collaboration with Min­istry of Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs and Priva­tization is making efforts to not only improve the imple­mentation performance of the ongoing portfolio but also to maximize the volume of disbursement of foreign resources. He indicated that the joint efforts are target­ing disbursements of around $2.0 billion during current financial year, i.e., 2023-24. The Finance Minister shared the reform agenda of the government and the ongoing efforts to stabilize the econ­omy. She also informed that the Government of Pakistan is cognizant of the fact that implementation of reforms in the priority sectors, par­ticularly in the energy sector, will allow Pakistan to un­leash the growth potential, therefore introducing Policy Reforms in this sector will remain the prime focus of Government of Pakistan.

The Country Director briefed the Finance Minis­ter on the progress under the RISE-II Development Policy Financing Program, which has recently been ne­gotiated by World Bank with EAD. The Finance Minister commended immediate sup­port of World Bank during the 2022 floods. However, considering enormous post flood rehabilitation and re­construction needs of coun­try, Finance Minister asked Country Director for extend­ing further World Bank sup­port to better cope with the emergency needs of country.