Govt seeks foreign loans to fight COVID-19.

ISLAMABAD -- The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government is chasing $1 billion foreign loans to fight with coronavirus contagion that is already in its pockets but requires timely execution of the projects as it also pursues a policy of seeking foreign loans to fight an emergency.

Pakistan's two largest creditors-the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), have so far committed $2.4 billion. The Manila-based ADB has promised to give $1.2 billion and its net fresh emergency related loan is expected to be around $700 million. But it may be approved either in June or July.

The World Bank has also committed to give $1.2 billion but its net fresh lending is only $200 million that it could approve on Thursday mainly for health and food supplies and also to partially finance cash support under the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP).

The diversion of $1 billion idle approved money by the World Bank also highlights the chronic problem of signing billions of dollars of foreign loans without having either the capacity to spend or due to ill execution of the projects. All the successive governments have failed to mobilise these funds and the cost is paid by the taxpayers as 'commitment charges'.

Instead of releasing all the needed funds from the budget to fast track health emergency related procurements, the economic ministries have been pursuing to get money that is either already approved and can be accessed by fulfilling remaining requirements or need fresh policy matrices.

The PTI's predecessors, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had also sought foreign loans to cope with natural calamities. But Prime Minister Imran Khan has in past opposed the policy of seeking foreign loans.

Last week, Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh announced seeking more loans; $1 billion from World Bank, $1.2 billion from ADB and $1.4 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to offset impact of the global pandemic on Pakistan's economy and to upgrade health facilities.

The date for approval of additional financing has not been announced yet and estimation is that it could take place in a matter of weeks, IMF Resident Representative Teresa Daban Sanchez told The Express Tribune. She said that everybody was working very hard to get it done as soon as possible

World Bank loans

The sources said that the World Bank has so far committed $1.2 billion but $1 billion will be channelled...