WB okays $500m loan to help govt fight Covid-19 effect.

Byline: Khaleeq Kiani

ISLAMABAD -- In a fast-moving process, the executive board of the World Bank has approved a $500 million loan to help Pakistan improve health and education facilities, generate jobs for women and strengthen social safety nets under its efforts to fight the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The loan is set for quick disbursement and would be available to Pakistan well before the current fiscal year ends on June 30. The project will be financed by the International Development Association - a concessional window of the World Bank - and will have a 30-year maturity with a five-year grace period.

The concept papers of the project were cleared by the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) at a meeting presided over by the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, Dr Jahanzeb Khan, early this week at the request of the finance ministry.

Pakistan has to meet a financing gap of $2 billion during the current fiscal, according to the International Monetary Fund estimates. Therefore, the finance division had presented seven concept papers for different loans from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank for a total loan of about $1.8bn. All the papers were cleared by the CDWP.

The project 'Securing Human Investments to Foster Transformation (SHIFT)' will contribute to improvements in the quality of civil registration and vital statistics, birth and death certification rates and the ability of the country to better plan for human capital accumulation.

Country will receive amount before current fiscal ends on June 30

The project seeks to implement in the country universal health coverage policy to improve health outcomes, increase sustainability of immunisation, better quality of education, boost engagement and recognition of women's participation in economic activities, develop safety net programmes, expand education and nutrition initiatives and provide cash transfers to the poor and the vulnerable to cope with the potential negative impact of the fiscal adjustment and of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The document prepared for the project says macroeconomic risk in Pakistan is high as the impact of Covid-19 will weaken ongoing stabilisation efforts and medium-term structural reforms and add additional pandemic-related shocks.

In a statement, the World Bank said the SHIFT programme would support policy reforms to help Pakistan's Covid-19 emergency response and protect human capital investments. It will support greater...

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