The World Bank says that allegations of a delay in Pakistan’s credit are “unfounded.”
The country director claims that the proposals were shared with the board following the “proper process” and “based on the readiness of the proposed initiatives.”
Najy Benhassine, the Pakistan country director for the World Bank, on Thursday denied rumours that the clearance of Pakistan’s loan had been delayed.
Benhassine stated on Twitter that press reports that the World Bank had decided to postpone approving possible operations in Pakistan were “unfounded.”
He continued by saying that all proposed operations and their finance have clear tentative board approval dates.
He added that following “proper process” and “depending on the proposed projects’ preparedness,” the WB chooses when to share project proposals with the Board for consideration.
This week, the news outlets reported that the World Bank had postponed the approval of two loans totaling $1.1 billion until the following fiscal year and that it had also objected to imposing a flood tax on imports, which would have created a new gap in the already ambitious $32 billion annual financing plan.
The government would have experienced a big shock had the second Programme for Affordable Energy (PACE-II) loan worth $600 million and the second Resilient Institutions for Sustainable Economy (RISE-II) credit worth $450 million both been approved.
The government had hoped to get at least the $450 million loan approved in January, which would have freed up another $450 million from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which had tied a $450 million loan to the approval of the World Bank’s RISE-II.
The coalition administration is already having difficulty reviving the IMF programme. Therefore, this World Bank decision would have left a $1.5 billion hole in the government’s yearly finance plan.
