ADB to provide $2.7b to Pakistan in 2019

KARACHI: The Asian Development Bank ( ADB) on Wednesday announced that the regional bank will provide $2.7 billion in approved financing to Pakistan during the outgoing calendar year. The ABD, through a tweet, also announced that under the recently approved Country Operations Business Plan (COBP) 2020-2022, it will increase average lending to the country to $2.4bn a year - showing a whopping increase from the $1.4bn on average from 2015 to 2018.

According to the ADB, it will leverage the country's lending through the mobilisation of co-financing and funding from other sources, including regional concessional resources. "The new COBP will support Pakistan's development goals and complement efforts by other development partners," it added. On Monday, the Manila-based lending agency said it had approved a $200 million loan as additional financing to support the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP).

A press release issued by the ADB noted that an ADBfinanced social protection development project, approved in 2013, had enabled the enrollment of over 855,000 beneficiaries of the BISP. Earlier in July, the ADB had announced to extend up to $10 billion indicative lending to Pakistan for various development projects and programmes during the next five years.

The bank said it had a series of country consultations to formulate a new Country Partnership Strategy (CPS), which will guide ADB's engagement in the country from 2020 to 2024. The purpose of ADB's 5-year CPS is to define priorities and to support Pakistan's development goals. The new strategy will also complement efforts by other development partners.