ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday signed three financing agreements worth $1.5 billion with three International Financial Institutions (IFIs) — World Bank (WB), Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) — to aid its anti-Covid response, besides strengthening healthcare and education systems.
Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan also witnessed the signing ceremony of the agreements in Islamabad, said a press release issued by the PM office.
Under the agreement for Covid-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support (CARES) Programme, the ADB would extend financial support of $500 million with the objective to support the Pakistani government’s efforts in strengthening its healthcare system and mitigating the socioeconomic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The AIIB would also extend co-financing of $500 million for the CARES Programme to augment the government’s efforts to mitigate the direct and indirect impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“By supporting industries and vulnerable groups that have been hard hit by Covid-19, this financing will help mitigate the economic shock and social impacts the country is currently facing,” said AIIB vice president, investment operations, Konstantin Limitovskiy, in a statement. “Preventing long-term damage to the productive capacity of the economy is essential. AIIB’s joint efforts with the international community are targeting this need,” he added.
The third agreement titled “Securing Human Investments to Foster Transformation (SHIFT) worth $500 million aims at strengthening the civil registration and vital statistics, health and education systems essential for human capital accumulation.
Ministry of Economic Affairs Secretary Noor Ahmed signed the three loan agreements on behalf of the Government of Pakistan while World Bank Country Director Patchamuthu Illangovan and ADB Country Director Xiaohong Yang signed agreements on behalf of the WB, ADB, and AIIB.
The disbursement of $1,500 million will be made to Pakistan in the next few days.
