World Bank | Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The World Bank is expected to approve a loan of $250 million to Pakistan for resilience, early action, and disaster preparedness in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, one of the country’s most flood-prone regions. The loan, provided by the International Development Association (IDA), aims to improve flood resilience in selected areas of the province. It is expected to be approved by the World Bank’s executive board in June this year. The province has sustained significant damage and losses from flooding over the years, with approximately $2.3 billion in cumulative damages from major flood events in 2010, 2022, and 2025 alone. More recently, the 2025 monsoon triggered localised riverine, glacial, and flash flooding, resulting in 509 fatalities. Building flood resilience is fundamental to KP’s long-term development, poverty reduction, and job creation. However, the scale of flood risk facing the province far exceeds what public finances can absorb through reactive recovery and reconstruction. Funding to be provided...

The Punjab government and the World Bank have agreed to further strengthen their partnership across key development sectors, including health, education, housing, tourism, and climate resilience.

Pakistan must create up to 30 million jobs over the next decade to turn its youth bulge into an economic dividend or risk instability and outward migration, World Bank President Ajay Banga has stressed. Pakistan is entering the implementation phase of a 10-year Country Partnership Framework (CPF) deal agreed with the World Bank last year, while also working with the International Monetary Fund to stabilise its economy. But Islamabad is still facing mounting pressure to deliver sustained growth and jobs. “We’re trying to move the bank group as a whole from the idea of projects to the idea of outcomes,” Banga said in an interview with Reuters in Karachi during a visit to Pakistan this week. “Job creation is the North Star.” ‘Generational challenge’ Pakistan needs to generate 2.5m to 3m jobs a year — roughly 25m to 30m over the next decade — as millions of young people come of age, Banga said. Failure to do so could fuel “illegal migration or domestic instability”. Banga said Pakistan’s population dynamics mean ...

The World Bank has approved $700 million in financing for Pakistan under a multi-year initiative aimed at supporting the country’s macroeconomic stability and service delivery, it emerged on Saturday. The lender said the funds will be released under the bank’s Public Resources for Inclusive Development — Multiphase Programmatic Approach (PRID-MPA), which could provide up to $1.35 billion in total financing. Of this amount, $600m will go for federal programmes and $100m will support a provincial programme in Sindh. The approval follows a $47.9m World Bank grant in August to improve primary education in Punjab. A separate statement issued by the lender quoted Bolormaa Amgaabazar, the World Bank’s country director for Pakistan, as saying, “Pakistan’s path to inclusive, sustainable growth requires mobilising more domestic resources and ensuring they are used efficiently and transparently to deliver results for people.” She said that through the MPA, the bank was working with the federal and Sindh governments to “...

Valérie Hickey, Global Director of the World Bank’s Climate Change Group, has praised Punjab Chief Minister Marium Nawaz Sharif as a “Climate Change Warrior” and “Climate Leader” during a meeting in Lahore.

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb met with World Bank (WB) President Ajay Banga in Washington and briefed him on the government’s flood response efforts, the finance ministry said on Saturday. The meeting was held on the sidelines of the plenary meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB) in Washington, DC, where Aurangzeb had arrived on Sunday on a six-day trip from Oct 13 to 18. In a statement issued today, the ministry said that Aurangzeb briefed Banga on the government’s comprehensive flood response efforts and appreciated the Bank’s timely support following the completion of the post-flood damage assessment. The minister also endorsed the proposal of leveraging technology platforms and cooperatives to “effectively reach small farmers and enhance agricultural resilience”, the statement read. Aurangzeb also thanked the WB for “its technical assistance” in developing Pakistan’s tariff policy, it added. The statement said that Aurangzeb informed Banga about the memorandums of unde...

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has arrived in Washington on a six-day official visit to attend the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, the Finance Ministry said on Sunday.

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb reached Washington on Sunday, where he will attend plenary meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB) from Oct 13 to 18. The meetings bring together global finance ministers, central bankers and development leaders, offering Pakistan a crucial platform to secure the next IMF tranche, advance economic reforms, and engage international partners on growth, investment, and resilience. Aurangzeb’s visit comes after a IMF mission concluded talks with Pakistani authorities on reviews of two lending programmes totalling $8.4 billion without announcing a staff-level agreement (SLA). Before leaving for the US, the finance minister had expressed optimism that the SLA with the IMF would be finalised next week during his visit to Washington. Separately, Pakistani officials in Washington told media representatives that during the 2025 annual meetings, the delegation from Islamabad would focus on securing the third IMF tranche, meeting the remaining programme be...

The World Bank said on Tuesday that higher tariffs on Indian goods exported to the US would be a drag on South Asia’s economic growth rate in 2026, even as it remains shielded in the current year by government spending. The World Bank said growth in South Asia was expected to slow sharply to 5.8 per cent in 2026 from its projection of 6.6pc for 2025. Its forecast for the region comprises India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, and the Maldives. “For 2026, the forecast has been downgraded, as some of these effects unwind and India continues to face higher-than-expected tariffs on goods exports to the United States,” the World Bank said in its report. The World Bank has raised its forecast for India’s growth in the current fiscal year ending March 2026 to 6.5pc from 6.3pc, while trimming its projection for the next fiscal year to 6.3pc from 6.5pc due to tariffs imposed by the United States. US President Donald Trump has imposed a 50pc tariff on most exports from India, among the highest for any US trading ...

The Sindh government and the World Bank have agreed to strengthen collaboration across multiple sectors, with a particular focus on health and education.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday appreciated the World Bank’s (WB) support for Pakistan’s position in light of India’s suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT). In April, India held the IWT in abeyance following the attack in occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam that killed 26 — an incident New Delhi blamed on Islamabad without evidence. Pakistan termed any attempt to suspend its water share an “act of war”, noting that the IWT had no provision for unilateral suspension. In a meeting with the WB’s regional vice president for the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan (MENAAP), Ousmane Dione, in Islamabad, the premier acknowledged the institution’s principled support for Pakistan’s legitimate position on India’s “unilateral and unlawful actions”, which undermined “important international agreements” such as the IWT. He reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to upholding international law, achieving prosperity, maintaining regional peace and reiterated the country’s resolve to resolve all issues throu...

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday met with the World Bank’s Regional Vice President for Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan (MENAAP), Mr.

Federal Economic Affairs Minister Ahad Khan Cheema held high-level discussions on Thursday with the World Bank leadership in Washington DC, and welcomed the strengthened collaboration with the global financial institution in strengthening the economy, according to statement by the ministry on Friday. In January, the World Bank pledged to provide $20bn to Pakistan under a 10-year country partnership framework (CPF) to support inclusive and sustainable development within the country. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had welcomed a $40 billion “investment” by the World Bank, stating that the inflow will open “a new chapter” in various sectors of the economy. In a meeting with WB Operations Managing Director Anna Bjerde and South Asia Regional Vice President Martin Raiser, the federal minister welcomed the strengthened collaboration between Pakistan and the Bank over the past year, the statement read. This enhanced engagement has culminated in the development of the new country partnership framework (CPF) 2026-2035,...

ISLAMABAD: A World Bank stu­dy says the General Sales Tax (GST) has the largest marginal contribution to the national poverty increase, while GST payments account for over 7 per cent of households’ pretax expenditure, which leads to further impoverishment among poor and vulnerable households. The Effects of Taxes and Transfers on Inequality and Poverty in Pakis­tan says the GST has the largest ne­­g­ative impact on the poverty headco­unt; the Benazir Income Support Programme has the largest positive impact on inequality reduction. Estimations of the marginal contributions of individual fiscal instruments — or the additional impact that individual fiscal instruments have on poverty or inequality when all other fiscal instruments are included — demonstrate that GST has the largest marginal contribution to the national poverty increase. GST is allocated roughly in proportion to consumption expenditure and, therefore, is neither strongly regressive nor strongly progressive. The BISP cash transfer meanwhile de­­­m...

Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari, the youngest daughter of President Asif Ali Zardari, on Friday visited a flood rehabilitation housing project in Shaheed Benazirabad district of Sindh accompanying a delegation of officials from the World Bank. The WB officials included its managing director Anna Bejerde and country director Najy Benhassine. Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah also accompanied them as they visited the flood rehabilitation housing project in Nazar Muhammad Laghari village in Shaheed Benazirabad district. This project, under the Sindh Peoples Housing for Flood Affectees (SPHF) programme, aims at rebuilding homes destroyed by the 2022 devastating floods, said a statement by the CM House. During the visit, Aseefa and Bejerde distributed ownership rights certificates to women homeowners, and interacted with female members of the Village Reconstruction Committee, as the latter showcased their handicraft work. The committee was briefed that 32 homes were destroyed in the village and had now been rebuilt. ...