The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and the World Bank (WB) inked an agreement on technical cooperation for achieving the Strategic Goals under SBP’s Vision 2020 on January 28, 2017.
This is the first such agreement signed by the World Bank on Reimbursable Advisory Services (RAS) with any country in the South Asia Region. The signing ceremony was held after a meeting between SBP Governor Ashraf Mahmood Wathra and World Bank CEO Kristalina Georgieva at a local hotel here on Saturday night.
SBP Strategic Plan (2016-20) has been framed and built around to focus on the resolution of strategically important issues facing Pakistan’s economy and financial sector. While Pakistan has made significant improvements in its economic fundamentals in recent years, the SBP Strategic Plan has been developed against a backdrop of continuing challenges and a need to foster a greater intermediation role for the financial sector.
The six strategic goals of SBP aim to enhance monetary policy; strengthen the financial system stability regime; improve the efficiency, effectiveness and fairness of the banking system; increase financial inclusion; develop robust payments systems and strengthen organisational efficiency and effectiveness.
The World Bank’s engagement in the financial sector is a combination of financial advisory knowledge and convening services, and is complemented by investments and private sector engagement by International Finance Corporation (IFC). Under the agreement, the SBP and the World Bank have agreed on a well-defined work program, including specific outputs.
The technical cooperation program is anticipated to have several components such as Development and implementation of a Risk Based Supervision framework; implementation of an Enterprise Risk Management framework, and strengthening of cyber security. The programme will have an initial duration of three years, with yearly reviews to discuss overall effectiveness of the program, monitor deliverables and the achievement of results.
