Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and World Bank (WB) Tuesday signed three loan agreements worth US$ 918 million to help support revenue mobilization and higher education development in the country.

The agreements were signed by Secretary, Economic Affairs Division, Noor Ahmed on behalf of the federal government, WB Country Director and World Bank, Patchamuthu Illangovan while the representatives of Higher Education Commission (HEC) and Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa signed their respective Project Agreements.

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs, Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, witnessed the signing ceremony between Country Director World Bank Patchamuthu Illangovan and Economic Affairs Division Secretary Noor Ahmed. The representatives of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa signed their respective project agreements.

The programme’s targeted results include; increasing Pakistan’s tax to GDP ratio to 17 percent; increasing the number of active taxpayers to 3.5 million; reducing the compliance burden of paying taxes and improving the efficiency of customs controls.

The Higher Education Development in Pakistan worth US$400 million would support research excellence in strategic sectors of the economy, improve teaching and learning and strengthening governance in the higher education sector.

The project would finance for nurturing academic excellence in strategic sectors; supporting decentralised higher education institutes for improved teaching and learning; equipping students and higher education institutions with modern technology; higher education management information system and data drive services; and capacity building, project management and monitoring and evaluation.

The third agreement related to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Revenue Mobilisation and Resource Management Program worth US$118 million would increase the collection of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s own-source revenues and improve the management of public resources.

This objective would be achieved through efficient revenue mobilization; effective public resource management and capacity building to enhance e-government functionality.

The programme would help the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to mobilise its own source revenue to address the constraint of limited fiscal space for investment and public service provision and efficient and strategic use of the province’s financial resources.

After the agreements were signed, the World Bank’s country director held a meeting with Dr Sheikh, who thanked the World Bank “for extending their continuous support to Pakistan’s government in its efforts to achieve the sustainable economic development of the country.”