The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has agreed to provide $100 million to achieve the targets of Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (SRSP-II) set for health and microfinance sectors. Sources said that recently agreed assistance is in addition to the earlier proposed three-year rolling financing plan worth $577 million for the year 2010-12.
Sources said that IDB officials held a meeting with Economic Affairs Division (EAD) and Finance Ministry officials here on Tuesday. The two sides will finalise the modalities of the assistance soon. The agreed assistance will be disbursed to Pakistan for projects in health and microfinance sectors.
The microfinance industry grew at a rapid pace of 40 percent a year during the period of the PRSP-I. By March 2008, the sector had more than 1.7 million savers, and about 1.6 million borrowers, of which nearly half were females. The provision of these loans to businesses and individuals for economic purposes helped create additional employment in different parts of the country.
Microfinance service providers are present in 105 districts, including some in the most far-flung areas such as FATA. Six specialised microfinance banks currently provide services, with a major share of their advances going to the livestock sector, followed by micro-enterprises and agricultural inputs. Several NGOs also provide microfinance services to marginalised communities. The sector is growing rapidly and plans to reach 3 million borrowers by 2010 and 10 million by 2015.
The private sector is very active in the provision of microfinance. The Pakistan Microfinance Network (PMN) is dedicated to improve the outreach and sustainability of microfinance in the country. It also aims to establish performance measures, enhance the capacity of retail microfinance institutions through specialised training, and promoting the financial transparency of such institutions. The PMN is well positioned with 95 percent of the total microfinance coverage and with the 20 leading microfinance institutions and banks as its members.
An important player in this regard is the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF), which has aligned itself with the evolving microfinance landscape in the country. The cumulative outreach of PPAF has extended to around 85 districts of the country. About 800,000 persons have been disbursed credit, with a considerable percentage of PPAF loans going exclusively to women (375,000). Up to September 2008, the PPAF had disbursed total Rs 27.5 billion to over 1.7 million borrowers. The PPAF also helps to deal with special problems. Thus, in the wake of the October 8, 2005 earthquake, an amount of Rs 300 million was diverted from PPAF's existing programme to the relief efforts.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines, a child should receive a BCG20 vaccination to protect against tuberculosis, three doses of DPT21 to protect against diphtheria and tetanus, three doses of polio vaccine, and a measles vaccination. The increase (in full immunisation) was particularly impressive in rural areas, from 46 percent in FY 2001/02 to 73 percent in FY 2006/07. Under the 'record' method, full immunisation rate was low at 50 percent in FY 2006/07 compared to 76 percent under the 'recall' method. However, there had been an improvement in record-based immunisation rate, from only 27 percent in FY 2001/02 to 50 percent in FY 2006/07.
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