{"id":14996,"date":"2025-02-15T07:09:54","date_gmt":"2025-02-15T07:09:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=14996"},"modified":"2025-02-15T07:09:55","modified_gmt":"2025-02-15T07:09:55","slug":"all-eyes-on-ifc-chief-visit-amid-20bn-boost-for-pakistans-private-sector","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=14996","title":{"rendered":"All eyes on IFC chief visit amid $20bn boost for Pakistan\u2019s private sector"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Most promising investment IFC has in Pakistan is its substantial financing in Reko Dig mining project<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mukhtar Diop, Managing Director International Finance Corporation (IFC), is arriving Friday in Islamabad – marking the first high-level IFC delegation\u2019s visit to the country in nearly a decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The visit comes on the heels of the World Bank Group\u2019s approval of a transformative Country Partnership Strategy, which pledges $20 billion in IFC investments over the next decade to bolster Pakistan\u2019s private sector, averaging $2 billion annually. This commitment of IFC is over and above the $20 billion committed by World Bank through IDA (concessional finance window) and IBRD. Taking the cumulative investment of the World Bank group to $40 billion over the next decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pakistan Executive Director to the World Bank Dr Tauqir shah while speaking to this correspondent said that recently approved $40 billion country partnership framework for next decade is a huge expression of confidence by the World Bank group in Pakistan\u2019s reform agenda and economic consolidation during last two years, and MD IFC visit almost after a decade is further endorsement of this confidence. He further said IFC has a very strong investment pipeline for Pakistan, but it remains subject to continued economic and political stability in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shah said that the IFC\u2019s unprecedented investment pipeline aims to catalyze growth across critical sectors in Pakistan, including infrastructure, renewable energy, agriculture, and SMEs. This aligns with the institution\u2019s mandate to drive job creation, innovation, and climate resilience in developing economies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most promising investment IFC has in Pakistan is its substantial financing in the Reko Dig mining project.The projected IFC financing package in Reko Diq will be around $2.5 billion. It will be IFCs largest single investment in mining sector globally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mukhtar Diop, the Senegalese-born Muslim economist and a towering figure in global development, leads the IFC \u2014 the World Bank Group\u2019s private sector arm focused on emerging markets. With over five years as IFC\u2019s Managing Director, Diop brings a storied career: former World Bank Vice President for Infrastructure and Africa, Senegal\u2019s ex-Minister for Economy and Finance, and a celebrated advocate for the Global South. Recognised among the 100 Most Influential Africans, Diop\u2019s leadership is synonymous with bridging economic gaps and advancing sustainable development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diop\u2019s trip, Shah said, signals a strategic pivot towards Pakistan amid global economic headwinds. He added that by channeling funds into high-impact projects, the IFC seeks to address structural challenges such as energy deficits, digital transformation, and access to finance\u2014key hurdles outlined in Pakistan\u2019s development agenda. The investment also underscores the World Bank Group\u2019s confidence in Pakistan\u2019s reform trajectory, particularly efforts to improve the business climate and attract foreign investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diop\u2019s visit included dialogues with government officials, business leaders, and civil society to prioritise projects that align with Pakistan\u2019s climate goals and socio-economic inclusivity. \u201cThis partnership isn\u2019t just about capital \u2014 it\u2019s about building resilience and unlocking opportunities for millions,\u201d Diop remarked recently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Tauqir Shah since 2019 IFC has committed $7.2 billion in investments across key sectors of Pakistan economy. However since 2022 IFC has increased its investments in Pakistan 3.5 times – with its investments reaching $1.5 billion in 2023 and $2.1 billion in 2024. With economy stabilising IFC plans $2 billion investment every year under the World bank group CPF for next 10 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scale-up in IFC\u2019s investment operations in Pakistan over the last couple of years have included many firsts in the<\/p>\n\n\n\n

country: (i) First greenfield, Sustainable Aviation Fuel project being set up in Punjab, which will lead to a significant increase in exports; (ii) First new tyre manufacturing facility in the country in almost 60 years (near Karachi) to help replace imports; (iii) First Sustainability Linked Loan in the country to a manufacturing company, with gender and water KPIs (KP province); and (iv) Development of a framework for Pakistan\u2019s first Diversified Payments Rights (DPRs) investment \u2013 ground breaking engagement to help strengthen capital markets and enable cheaper access to foreign exchange funding for the private sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shah explained that IFC investment have a hugely positive impact since it leverages other private sector investors to crowd in to IFC sponsored projects – The expertise and immaculate due diligence which is a forte of IFC encourages other foreign direct investors to join IFC sponsored projects. in this manner IFC leverages four to five time more investments in private sector thus generate more high quality jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shah said over the years, IFC has made several high impact investments in sectors like low-cost renewables (first set of private wind and hydro projects), first LNG terminal, first private sector led housing finance company, first sustainability linked loan, and multiple gender, climate and financial inclusion focused initiatives particularly for SMEs. In manufacturing and services, IFC has supported investments in chemicals, healthcare, retail, dairy and agribusiness, textile, cement and other export oriented industries, as well as making early stage investments in the nascent venture capital\/private equity sectors. IFC has also significantly scaled up its trade finance program to help companies meet USD liquidity needs for critical imports including energy \u2013 Pakistan is now the largest recipient of IFC\u2019s trade finance program in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reference Link:- https:\/\/www.thenews.com.pk\/print\/1282659-all-eyes-on-ifc-chief-visit-amid-20bn-boost-for-pakistan-s-private-sector<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most promising investment IFC has in Pakistan is its substantial financing in Reko Dig mining project Mukhtar Diop, Managing Director International Finance Corporation (IFC), is arriving Friday in Islamabad – marking the first high-level IFC delegation\u2019s visit to the country in nearly a decade. The visit comes on the heels of the World Bank Group\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14997,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[12624,12625,132,105,12619,12620,36,2978,12623],"class_list":["post-14996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sample-category","tag-20-blns","tag-all-eyes-on-ifc-chief-visit-amid-20bn-boost-for-pakistans-private-sector","tag-economy","tag-geopolitics-2","tag-ifc","tag-international-finance-corporation","tag-pakistan","tag-reko-diq","tag-world-bank-group"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14996"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14998,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14996\/revisions\/14998"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}