Asian Development Bank offers $3.2bn for Pakistan

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has decided to allocate USD 3.25 billion under a new lending programme for next three years that would focus on reforms in the energy sector and challenges faced by the state-owned enterprises. According to the Country Operations Business Plan, the total firm-lending programme amounts to USD 3.2 billion for 27 loans, an annual average of USD 1. 061 billion. The business plan has allocated a major part of the available resources to address energy sector needs, both through investments and policy reforms. About 26 percent of the loan will be provided multi tranche facilities. Currently, the power sector receipts dont cover the cost of the unit sold that has to be fulfilled by a government subsidy bearing a continuous loss or become arrears of the state-owned power companies. Planned interventions aim at a more efficient system for generating, transmitting, and distributing electricity; improving collection, adjusting pricing mechanisms; and improving management. In the business plan, ADB will introduce policy-based lending to support the governments medium-term reform agenda agreed with the IMF, and the addition of a project pipeline for 2015-2016. Interventions have also been proposed for the provinces of southwestern Balochistan and northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces to broaden the geographic coverage of ADB assistance for development in these two regions.