World Bank Group President David Malpass arrived in Islamabad on Wednesday for a three-day visit, his first trip to Pakistan since assuming the top slot of World Bank Group.
According to World Bank office Islamabad, Malpass will meet Prime Minister Imran Khan. He will also meet Sindh chief minister, federal and provincial ministers, advisors, governor State Bank of Pakistan, members of Parliament, beneficiaries of the Benazir Income Support Programme, and representatives of the private sector.
"My visit to Pakistan provides a good opportunity to discuss the need for important reforms to stabilize the Pakistani economy and accelerate broad-based growth," said Malpass in a statement.
"I look forward to hearing from Prime Minister Imran Khan and the chief ministers on their priorities and how the World Bank Group can best work with Pakistan to improve its business and jobs environment, and create conditions for people to gain education, skills and good health."
During his visit, Malpass will engage on reforms, including harmonizing the sales tax across Pakistan to further improve the business environment and enhance revenue collection; lowering circular debt in the power sector and increasing the share of renewable energy for environmental sustainability; harnessing a greater role for women in the economy; and unleashing digital payments to boost financial inclusion.
Malpass will visit a World Bank-supported hydropower project in Tarbela where the Bank is currently financing additional capacity of 4GW of cheaper and environment-friendly energy.
Malpass will participate in an event to celebrate Pakistan's progress in Ease of Doing Business 2020, and to discuss useful next steps. He will also participate in the launch of the National Payments Systems Strategy with the government and representatives from the private sector.
Pakistan has been a member of the World Bank since 1950. Since then, the World Bank has provided $40 billion in assistance. The World Bank's programme in Pakistan is governed by the Country Partnership Strategy for fiscal year 2015-2020 with four priority areas of engagement: energy, private sector development, inclusion, and service delivery.
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