Pakistan eyes $250m World Bank loan
E&P companies pay Rs 2.197b oil royalty
The World Bank is contemplating signing a $250 million loan agreement with Pakistan to help it get rid of the danger of being excluded from future prosperity. Though Pakistan has focused on modernizing the infrastructure of the country, it is often blamed for underinvesting in the human capital. This $ 250 million loan is going to play a critical role in transforming Pakistan's human productivity rate.
This loan was basically put in place to help Pakistan improve its health and education systems which are essential for the accumulation of human capital. Also, it would enable Pakistan to work on civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) so that it functions efficiently. This loan also plans to assist Pakistan in increasing the contribution of women and girls to economic productivity and federal safety nets would also be improved so that shocks are countered efficiently.
Pakistan ranks the lowest in the HDI index compared to the other South Asian countries. This HDI index was introduced by Indian economist and philosopher Amartya Sen. It is like a country's report card that aims to evaluate the well being of the citizens residing there. There are three main dimensions that the HDI comprises; Life expectancy, education, the standard of living.
The health dimension is assessed by life expectancy at
ISLAMABAD: The government has collected an amount of Rs 2.197 billion on account of oil royalty from five hydrocarbon Exploration and Production (E&P) companies during the last three years for onward payment to the provinces concerned.
"The royalty amounting to Rs 2,197.17m has been collected from five E&P companies who discovered oil reserves in their 29 fields located in different parts of the country during the last three years," according to an official document available with APP.
"The companies, including United Energy Pakistan Limited, Oil and Gas Development Company Limited, Pakistan Oilfields Limited, Pakistan Petroleum Limited and Mari Petroleum Company Limited, paid Rs 38.86 million as oil royalty in 2016-17, Rs 449.99 million in 2017-18 and Rs 1,708.33 million in 2018-19.
birth, the education dimension is assessed by the years of schooling for adults aged 25 years and the standard of living is measured by gross national income per capita.
A country's development cannot be equated with its economic growth. For a country to develop, its citizens should be productive and that is only possible if they are healthy, educated and enjoy a decent standard of living. Therefore, the World Bank is stressing on the need to invest in human capital.
Women's economic empowerment is also necessary to boost productivity as it leads to more inclusive economic growth. As they say, when women work, economies grow.
The World Bank is committed to working with the government of Pakistan to help tackle the serious issue of
human development. Their proposed operation is the first in a series of two Development Policy Credit (DPC) operations for the project known as 'Securing Human Investments to Foster Transformation (Shift). This project is a segment of a package including resilient institutions for a sustainable economy, aimed at supporting medium-term structural reforms over the next three years focusing on fiscal management, growth and competitiveness, and human capital outcomes for productivity gains.
Currently, Pakistan ranks the lowest in the World Bank's Human Capital Index. Countries like Singapore, South Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong topped the list, while Chad and South Sudan performed the worst.