On Tuesday, The government sought more time from the World Bank to implement its conditions for qualifying for $1.5 billion loans to meet the burgeoning external financing needs.
Pakistan is seeking three budget support loans, totalling $1.5 billion, from the World Bank before the end of June, they said, adding that the World Bank had set May 10th deadline to implement the conditions for the loans approval.
Finance Ministry officials said that Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin held a virtual meeting with Axel van Trotsenburg, the managing director (operations) of the World Bank, to review the status of the three under consideration loans.
Though a finance ministry handout about the meeting did not mention discussions on the $1.5 billion loans, the officials said that the WB had set the May 10 deadline for implementing all the conditions before the approval of the loans from its board of directors in the last week of June.
The most challenging conditions were related to increase in electricity tariffs, which the government at this point in time was reluctant to implement after already jacking up the prices twice in December and February.
The officials said that the minister told the managing director that the government were trying to achieve the deadline. Some of the conditions that will remain unimplemented by the deadline will be achieved before the loan approval request is taken up by the WB board, said the officials.
