ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and the World Bank Friday signed loan agreements of seven projects worth around $1.336 billion. The accords focus on social protection, disaster and climate risk management, improving infrastructure for resilience, agriculture and food security, human capital development and governance sectors.
Minister for Economic Affairs Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtyar witnessed the signing ceremony of seven project agreements worth $1.336 billion including grant of $128 million with the World Bank at the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
Noor Ahmed, Secretary, Ministry of Economic Affairs signed the financing agreements on behalf of the government of Pakistan while representatives of governments of Sindh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan signed their respective project agreements online.
Najy Benhassine, Country Director, World Bank signed the agreements on behalf of the World Bank. The World Bank Country Director Najy Benhassine, assured that the World Bank’s continuous financial and technical support to the government of Pakistan would promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth in the country.
This financing will support the government’s initiatives in social protection, disaster and climate risk management, improving infrastructure for resilience, agriculture and food security, human capital development and governance sectors.
During the ceremony, the government of Pakistan and the World Bank signed the following project agreements: Crisis-Resilient Social Protection Program (CRISP) – $600 million: The objective of the programme is to support the development of more adaptive social protection system that will contribute to future crisis-resilience among poor and vulnerable households in the country.
The program is focused on the key initiatives being undertaken by Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) under the Ehsaas Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programs, namely Kafaalat, Waseela-e-Taleem, and Nashonuma.
The financial inclusion and informal worker support initiatives of Ehsaas have also been included in the program.
Country Director World Bank Najy Benhassine said the CRISP will support Pakistan’s Ehsaas program in developing an adaptive social protection system that is more efficient and offers new model for crisis-response and increasing household resilience to future shocks.
Locust Emergency and Food Security Project – $200 million: The project, through a strengthened and better coordinated federal?provincial government system, will introduce and implement a set of customised activities, such as conducting locust surveillance and controlling operations, rehabilitating livelihoods of affected rural communities and farmers, strengthening and operating the Food Security and Nutrition Information System, emphasizing climate?smart agriculture measures and women’s participation, to effectively address the desert locust outbreak and to reduce vulnerability to climate change in the long?term.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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