ISLAMABAD:
The World Bank (WB) will give Pakistan $10.2 billion during the next
five years — from 2015 to 2019. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has,
meanwhile, assured the World Bank that the government was going to
eliminate tax exemptions in Pakistan in the next budget.
He
extended this assurance here on Sunday to Sri Mulyani Indrawati,
Managing Director (MD) World Bank Group.The minister informed the WB’s
top functionary that changes were being contemplated in the relevant tax
laws to permanently eliminate the discretion of the Federal Board of
Revenue (FBR) to issue special tax exemptions.
These
measures will, he argued, lead to enhanced revenue generation and the
country will be able to spend more on development programmes. “The
Privatisation strategy is in place to provide a holistic framework for
disinvesting public sector assets.”
The minister said
that good governance, transparency and zero tolerance for corruption
remains the hallmark of the government in pursing the strategic
partnership with the private sector in PSEs (public sector enterprises).
The
statement says the minister highlighted that the macro-economic
situation was improving as reforms were making progress, growth was
picking up and inflation was in single digits. Ishaq Dar informed the
World Bank official about the steps taken by the government to put the
country’s economy back on track. He said the new government was pursuing
a three-point priority agenda, focused on addressing the economy,
energy and extremism.
Senator Dar also spoke about
landmark steps the prime minister recently announced with the objective
to generate business opportunities for youth and assist them in
attaining educational excellence. “Our efforts have started yielding
results in addressing long-delayed issues and pulling the country out of
its economic woes,” Dar told the WB official.
The
minister said the premier has an agenda of addressing the core
impediments hampering economic growth in consonance with its true
potential. He said besides appropriate economic measures, the government
was working on a plan to develop infrastructure and meeting the
requirements of energy demand in the country.
He said the
government has embraced a proactive energy policy to invite new
investment in the energy sector with a special emphasis on renewable and
cheap energy sources. He emphasised that international assistance will
help the government in addressing poverty and the socio-economic uplift
of the people.
The minister thanked the official for her
personal interest in Pakistan-related programmes viz CASA-1000 and the
Dasu hydropower projects which are in the process of approval by the
Board and clearance of two DPCs on March 19 by the operations committee
which the MD herself chaired.
The WB official while
appreciating Pakistan’s economic policies said that the World Bank will
help Pakistan in poverty alleviation and promoting shared prosperity for
the people of Pakistan.
She said Pakistan has an
encouraging macro-economic framework and this will lead to enhanced
confidence in Pakistan by the international community and institutions.
She also appreciated increased allocation for social safety network
programmes.
She also informed the finance minister that
the World Bank will be considering the Country Partnership Strategy
(2014-19) for Pakistan on May 1 this year and this reflects the WB’s
commitment to the country. She underlined that participation of the
private sector in energy sector reforms will be a strong message to the
foreign investors and one success in this regard will lead to another
success. She hoped success for Pakistan in launching of Eurobonds in the
international market and auction of spectrum licences.
Meanwhile,
Economic Affairs Division Secretary Nargis Sethi in a briefing told
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar that the World Bank is going to allocate the
share of $10.2 billion for Pakistan under Country Partnership Strategy
(2015-19).
She said the financial envelop for Pakistan,
which was around $9 billion in the previous Country Strategy Partnership
2010-14, has now been proposed to be considerably enhanced to $10.2
billion, a senior official told ‘The News’.
Dar was told
that the World Bank Group (WBG) was preparing a new strategy for
Pakistan, which will guide the engagement of its three institutions
(World Bank, International Finance Corporation, Multilateral
International Guarantee Agency) for the next five years and will be
designed to focus on the twin goals of ending extreme poverty and
promoting shared prosperity.
Sethi said that during the
consultations process over 30 meetings, the WBG team met more than 400
individuals from civil society organisations, media representatives,
parliamentarians, political leaders, chief ministers and cabinet
members, civil servants, academics, think tanks, youth groups, the
private sector, and other local and international development partners.
She
mentioned that the focus of the international donors remained tackling
the energy crisis, increasing economic opportunity for women and youth,
improving service delivery, addressing inequality, and combating climate
change.
The finance minister appreciated that for the
first time the country’s partnership strategy has been developed through
a consultative process based on national development agenda and in line
with the national interest and priorities.
He expressed
satisfaction over the cooperation of the WBG and its affiliation. Dar
said tackling the energy crisis with low-cost generation options like
hydro-power and improving access to community-led small-scale off-grid
and renewable energy sources for remote areas of Balochistan and Fata
remained on the government’s priority.
ISLAMABAD:
Minister for Information and Broadcasting Pervaiz Rashid has said that
federal government will extend every possible help to drought-affected
people of Thar.