ISLAMABAD: The World Bank (WB) has launched a $20 billion Country Partnership Framework (CPF) to promote inclusive and sustainable development in Pakistan by focusing on six key outcomes.
The outcomes include enhancing human capital, fostering lasting private sector growth, and strengthening economic, social, and environmental resilience.
The World Bank’s Board of Directors approved Pakistan’s inaugural 10-year CPF, representing the largest financial commitment from the World Bank in the nation’s history.
This comprehensive framework targets six vital development sectors, with a monitoring and evaluation scorecard to ensure accountability and track progress.
Spanning from Fiscal Year 2026 to Fiscal Year 2035, the initiative aims to foster inclusive and sustainable development, prioritising human capital enhancement, robust private sector growth, and the strengthening of economic, social, and environmental resilience.
At the launch ceremony, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif emphasised, “What is being done today should have been done decades ago.” He expressed optimism that the World Bank’s programme would revitalise Pakistan’s economy by investing in climate-resilient projects, combating poverty and unemployment, and advancing digital, agricultural, and Information Technology initiatives.
The prime minister also acknowledged the Bank’s crucial contributions to sectors like hydropower, energy, and institutional reforms, noting that the digitisation of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is “rapidly on track.”
Six key priorities under CPF:
- Reduced child stunting through increased access to clean water and sanitation services, basic health and nutrition and family planning services
- Reduced learning poverty through quality foundational education
- Increased resilience to floods and other climate-related disasters and better food and nutrition security in the face of climate impacts on the water-agriculture nexus
- Cleaner and more sustainable energy and better air quality
- Increased fiscal space, better management and more progressive public expenditures for development
- Increased productive and inclusive private investment, particularly to improve external trade balances and higher, more sustainable growth.
World Bank Vice President Martin Raiser reaffirmed the institution’s unwavering support for Pakistan, emphasising the targeting of six pivotal sectors under the newly established 10-year framework.
The World Bank elaborated that implementing policy and institutional reforms to stimulate private sector growth and enhance the government’s fiscal capacity for essential investments will be paramount.
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“Our focus is on prioritising investment and advisory initiatives that will attract vital private investments in sectors crucial for Pakistan’s sustainable development and job creation, such as energy, water, agriculture, access to finance, manufacturing, and digital infrastructure,” stated Zeeshan Sheikh, the bank’s International Finance Corporation Country Manager for Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Currently, the World Bank has committed approximately $17 billion toward 106 active projects in Pakistan.
For years, the country has been on the brink of economic turmoil, with economists and international financial institutions advocating for substantial economic reforms.
Pakistan is presently navigating a $7 billion bailout programme from the International Monetary Fund, which mandates the nation to enhance government revenues and stabilise external financing sources, predominantly reliant on loans from China and Gulf countries.