KARACHI: The World Bank, in its latest annual report, has marked Pakistan as the top borrower of the International Development Association (IDA) in fiscal year 2023.
The leading global lender disclosed that Pakistan secured $2.3 billion in funding in the previous fiscal year.
The WB provided Pakistan nearly $1.7bn for five projects in the flood-hit Sindh province to build resilient housing, restore crop production, provide health services for mothers and children, and strengthen social protection and the local government’s disaster response capacity.
The international institution approved $10.1bn in lending for 37 operations in the South Asian region during the fiscal year 2023 — $4.3bn in International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) commitments and $5.8bn in IDA commitments, the document, titled “World Bank Annual Report 2023 — A New Era in Development” says.
The report reveals that the WB also supported 61 advisory services and analytical products for eight countries. These provided technical advice on issues such as debt management, governance, job creation, social protection, air pollution and climate resilience.
Regarding the South Asia’s GDP, the report forecast that it is expected to grow 5.6 per cent in 2023 and to remain moderate at 5.9pc in 2024, following an initial post-pandemic recovery of 8.2pc in 2021.
The region’s growth prospects have weakened owing to tightening financial conditions, limited fiscal space and depleting reserves, contributing to large downside risks in most countries, the report further says.
The WB’s report says decline in poverty is likely to recover in line with economic growth, with the number of people living on less than $3.20 a day across the region forecast to be 754 million in 2023, lower than the estimates in 2019.
“South Asia is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and natural disasters,” the report further says.
