World Bank to lend Pakistan $550 million for development of education and natural gas sector

World Bank to lend Pakistan $550 million for development of education and natural gas sector

Friday, April 27, 2012: Pakistan is set to receive $550 million from the World Bank in order to strengthen the education and natural gas sectors.

The approvals came as a result of Pakistan’s top economic managers’ meetings with top management of the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington, paving the way for rebuilding relations strained after
premature culmination of $11.3 billion bailout programme with the IMF.

Pakistan is also negotiating a new loan programme with the IMF and the WB’s approvals are seen as signs of smoothing relations with the fund.

“The $350 million have been approved for Second Punjab Education Sector Project for the education sector reform program designed to increase child school participation and student achievement,” said the WB country office on Friday.

“The Second Punjab Education Sector Project is a concessionary loan. It carries a 0.75% service charge and 1.25% interest rate and will be paid back in 25 years.”

According to the WB country office, the $200 million credit sanctioned for Natural Gas Efficiency Project aims to enhance the supply of natural gas in Pakistan by reducing the physical and commercial losses in the gas pipeline
system.

“The Natural Gas Efficiency Project includes $100 million loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), which is an expensive window,” said the WB country office.

“It is a fixed-spread loan with a maturity of 23 years. The remaining $100 million is an IDA credit with the same terms as the Second Punjab Education Sector Project.”

Significant shortfalls persist in both, school participation and student achievement in Punjab.

To address these challenges, the Government of Punjab is implementing the Punjab Education Sector Reform Program (PESRP), which aims to improve schooling outcomes through institutional development and strengthening, improved monitoring,
and enhanced governance and accountability.

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Posted by Wajahat Javed on Apr 28 2012. Filed under Business, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry