ADB president praises Pak economic reform agenda

Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Masatsugu Asakawa, accompanied by his delegation, met with Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and commended his government for its comprehensive reforms and reaffirmed ADB’s continued support for Pakistan.

He also reaffirmed ADB’s support for infrastructure development, climate resilience, and institutional reforms in Pakistan.

While appreciating ADB’s long-standing and steadfast support to Pakistan, the prime minister informed the visiting president about a series of reforms introduced by the government.

The key reforms include enhancing tax revenues, improving financial sustainability of the energy sector, enhancing climate resilience, reducing untargeted subsidies and scaling up social protection.

The prime minister emphasized that he is personally overseeing the progress of these reforms to ensure their successful implementation and long-term impact, underscoring the Government’s commitment to sustainable economic growth and stability.

The prime minister appreciated ADB’s generous support of over $1.5 billion in response to the devastating floods of 2022. He showed Pakistan’s keen desire to work with development partners in climate resilience projects including agriculture.

The prime minister and president of ADB also witnessed the loan signing of the Sindh Emergency Housing Reconstruction Project amounting to $400 million and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Rural Roads Development Project worth $320 million.

Both these projects are part of the ADB’s flood commitments.

Federal Ministers for Planning & Development, Investment & Privatization, Economic Affairs, Finance & Revenue and other senior government officials also attended the meeting.