ISLAMABAD: The government is expecting additional $400 million from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for various development projects and programmes bringing the total commitment to $2.5 billion by the end of the current fiscal year, it is learnt.

Shixin Chen, vice president (Operations) of the ADB called on Prime Minister Imran Khan, Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin, and Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Omar Ayub Khan, on Monday, and discussed the ADB’s technical and financial assistance for Pakistan including ongoing portfolio and priority areas for future interventions.

The vice president of ADB also called on Prime Minister Imran Khan. The prime Minister appreciated the ADB for its support to the government in socio-economic development of Pakistan. The vice president of ADB appreciated the government’s handling of the Covid-19 crisis and said that Pakistan economy has much better than many countries during Covid crisis.

Vice President of ADB assured the prime minister that the bank would continue to support Pakistan in its endeavours to accelerate the growth of Pakistan’s economy.

The government has budgeted $1.6 billion from the Bank for the current fiscal year of which $1.1 billion have disbursed so far, as per the EAD data. Official sources revealed to Business Recorder that the government is expecting that the ADB will enhance the disbursement for Pakistan in the current year.

“The government has already signed commitment of $ 2.05 billion with the ADB for the current fiscal year. Another $400 million is expected during March-June 2022,” said officials who were part of Monday’s meeting.

The minister further highlighted that through the National Coordination Committee on Foreign Funded Projects, the EAD had significantly improved physical progress and disbursement against the ongoing projects by removing major bottlenecks including delays in land acquisition, right of way issues and hiring of project staff.

The minister further shared that the EAD is going to implement triad model i.e. physical progress verification by satellites, financial tracking and use of Gantt Charts for efficient monitoring and smooth implementation of the projects.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022