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Finance Minister’s Meeting with MD World Bank

 Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Mr. Shaukat Tarin held a meeting today with Mr. Axel van Trotsenburg, Managing Director World Bank and the Bank’s Pakistan team at the World Bank Headquarters in Washington DC. Dr. Asad Majeed Khan, Ambassador, Dr. Murtaza Syed, Deputy Governor SBP and Mr. Naveed Kamran Baloch, Alternate Executive Director, World Bank were also present. Omar Ayub Khan, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Mohammad Hammad Azhar, Federal Minister for Energy joined the meeting virtually from Islamabad.

The Finance Minister appreciated the Bank’s support to Pakistan over the decades and acknowledged the continuing support being extended to Pakistan. The Finance Minister highlighted the measures taken by the Government to accelerate completion of projects funded by the Bank which were in the pipeline, with special focus on agriculture, housing and construction sectors. The Finance Minister assured that the Government was also keen to reform the power sector in the country with special focus on reducing circular debt.

The Finance Minister reiterated that the government is fully committed to implementing structural reforms, protecting social spending and boosting social safety nets in order to protect the vulnerable segments of the society.

Minister for Energy Hamad Azhar shared the measures being taken by the Government to reform the power sector and rationalize power sector subsidies.

MD Axel van Trotsenburg informed the delegation on the importance that the Bank places on cooperation with Pakistan and said that the Bank was looking forward to continuing the bilateral cooperation in the future. He said that the Bank was partnering with Pakistan in implementing one of the largest programme by the Bank for Pakistan and acknowledged that a lot of progress has been made on implementation of structural reforms in various sectors.

MD Axel van Trotsenburg also conveyed gratitude and appreciation for the Government’s assistance in the timely and efficient transiting of the Bank’s staff from Kabul.

Washington DC, October 14, 2021