Islamabad: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank (WB) have pleaded to provide USD 4 billion in budget support to Pakistan and help the country mitigate the negative economic impacts of coronavirus, a news source reported.
To this effect, the international agencies will cooperate with Pakistan and repurpose their investments in existing projects to increase the economic resilience of the country.
ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa and WB President David Malpass wrote a joint letter to Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan and urged him to maintain the course of medium-term structural reforms, so that the country recovers from the crisis swiftly once the crisis ebbs away. The two acknowledged that the structural reforms which were implemented before the COVID-19 outbreak were stabilizing the economy.
They acknowledged the Global Debt Relief Initiative by Group 20 (G20) countries to suspend debt service payments. They also acknowledged the government’s decision to utilise the fiscal space generated by debts suspension for the support of the vulnerable people in the country.
