ISLAMABAD: The indicative resources available for commitment during 2021-2023 for sovereign operations for Pakistan is $5.436 billion, comprising $3.645 billion for regular Ordinary Capital Resources (OCR) lending and $1.79 billion for concessional OCR lending (COL), says the Asia Development Bank (ADB).
The ADB has updated its website according to which the Country Operation Business Plan (COBP) 2021-23 for Pakistan is consistent with its country partnership strategy for Pakistan, 2021– 2025, which is aligned with the government of Pakistan’s development strategy, ADB’s Strategy 2030, and the Sustainable Development Goals.
About 13 percent of the pipeline supports the government’s response to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic. The final allocation will depend on, among other factors, available resources, project readiness, and the outcome of the country performance assessments, it added.
Co-financing and funding from other sources, including grants from the Asian Development Fund (ADF-13) thematic pool for projects addressing specific challenges, and ADB’s non-sovereign operations subject to headroom constraints, will be explored to augment the annual indicative resources available for commitment.
The proposed sovereign lending programme for 2021–2023 totals $6,336 million, consisting of $4,546 million from regular OCR lending and $1,790 million from COL (which includes 17 percent over-programming to respond to operational adjustments). Policy-based lending operations for 2021–2023 will be subject to resource and headroom availability under the ADB’s policy-based lending ceiling.
The non-lending programme for 2021–2023 is $23.5 million, inclusive of the ADB and other sources, majority of which are transaction technical assistance for projects in the pipeline.
The update further noted that the ADB will increase its non-sovereign operations footprint through an enhanced focus on financial institutions; food security; and infrastructure.
The ADB also will continue to facilitate trade finance and seek opportunities to support (i) demonstrative projects in logistics and agriculture value chains; and (ii) alternative financing options for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises.
Where feasible, private sector operations will generate synergies with the ADB’s public sector assistance by providing blended finance solutions, supporting privatisation, and focusing on public–private partnership opportunities.
The ADB will explore policy-based guarantee and local currency financing to optimize government and private sector financing, and support the development of Pakistan’s capital markets, it added.
The ADB’s COBP will adopt a One ADB multi-sector approach that brings together all of the ADB’s resources to provide integrated solutions to clients.
The ADB will seek opportunities (i) to mobilise private sector financing and partners for development projects; (ii) to enhance financing and technical assistance support for public–private partnership projects; and (iii) in areas such as climate change, trade finance, small and medium-sized enterprises, insurance, agribusiness, housing, and tourism development.
Around 29 percent i.e. $1.84 billion of the COBP is committed for energy sector, 16.4 percent i.e. $1.04 billion for transport, 14.8 percent i.e. $938 million for agriculture, natural resources and rural development, 10 percent i.e. $636 million for water and other urban infrastructure and services, 12.6 percent or $800 million for finance, five percent or $315 million for education, and 1.7 percent or $110 million for health sector.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
Comments
Comments are closed.