SATURDAY DECEMBER 24: World Bank plans up to $5.5 billion lending

WASHINGTON: The World Bank said on Thursday it will lend up to $5.5 billion to Pakistan over three years under a new lending strategy focused on boosting the economy and helping poorer, less-integrated regions, including tribal areas near the Afghan border. The World Bank said the new strategy will cover the 2012 to 2014 fiscal years and include both loans and grant handouts.
The World Bank said its work in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), a semi-autonomous tribal region, as well as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan on the Afghan border would be funded from a trust fund supported by 10 donor countries. The bank said the first round of projects, funded by the trust money, involved initiatives to create jobs, emergency roads construction and revitalising health services. The tribal areas have never been fully integrated into Pakistan's administrative system and economy, and include factions of al Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban.