- Diop highlights the need for increased investment in the private sector.
- Govt’s efforts have increased the confidence of investors, said Diop.
- IFC to mobilize $ 20 billion to promote private sector investments.
Islamabad: International Finance Corporation (IFC) and executive vice-president Makhtar Diop praised Pakistan’s productive commitment with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and successful economic reforms during its visit to the country.
During a meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the IFC chief discussed the current portfolio and the company’s pipelines in Pakistan at the private sector of the World Bank (WBG) group.
The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ishaq Dar, the Minister of Finance Muhammad Aurangzeb, the Minister of Economic Affairs, Ahad Khan Cheema, and the superior officers of the ministries also attended the meeting.
DIOP highlighted the need for an increase in private sector investments to improve the infrastructure of the road and energy sector, in particular the transmission lines, airport services, wheat storage infrastructure, including silos To improve the role of the private sector in export facilitation.
In order to have a healthy population for sustained economic growth, the need for private investment in water, health and sanitation – with desired social guarantees was also highlighted at the meeting.
He shared that government efforts to create an empowering environment for private sector operations in Pakistan, under the leadership of the Prime Minister, increased the confidence of investors. He assured that the continuous support of the Prime Minister of IFC in the private sector in Pakistan was duly aligned with the government’s priorities.
The Prime Minister appreciated the recently launched WBG framework (CPF) of WBG (2026-2035) with its unprecedented commitment of US $ 40 billion.
It would include sovereign loans of US $ 20 billion by the International Development Association (IDA) and International Bank for Reconstruction & Development (CBRD).
IFC would mobilize $ 20 billion to promote private sector investments in Pakistan.
The Federal Minister of Finance and Income, Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb held a separate meeting with Diop at the finance division on Friday.
Diop noted that stakeholders in the private sector in Pakistan had expressed their confidence in the Minister of Finance policies and appreciated the progress made. He also congratulated the Pakistan Country Partnership (CPF) framework with the World Bank, recognizing it as one of the best practices worldwide.
Diop reiterated IFC’s commitment to work closely with Pakistan and provide support in key areas such as green energy data centers, the agricultural supply chain, improvements in the sector telecommunications and digitization.
The Minister of Finance underlined the government’s recent storage declaration as an industrial and reaffirmed his commitment to public-private partnerships (PPP) in infrastructure, IT and AGTECH data centers.