World Bank President David Malpass is all set to visit Pakistan in the first week of November to finalise enhanced financial support for institutional reforms and growth agenda, according to the Ministry of Finance on Thursday.
The Ministry said that the World Bank’s country director in Pakistan Patchamuthu Illangovan and his team called on Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance Abdul Hafeez Shaikh to apprise him of Malpass’s upcoming visit, Dawn news reported.
The delegation conveyed “a strong desire from the World Bank management to work with Pakistan to drive institutional reforms and support the growth agenda of the government through any technical or financial assistance required from the bank”, said a statement.
The visit follows Prime Minister Imran Khan’s meeting with Malpass during his recent visit to the US.
The official told Pak adviser, Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, that the World Bank could work on any financial arrangement, looking at the objective need and assessment of the policy matrix as the bank was very supportive of the institutional reforms being undertaken by the government of Pakistan in different sectors of the economy.
Shaikh welcomed the World Bank president’s upcoming visit to Pakistan and expressed hope that the visit would lead to the opening of greater avenues for more productive engagement between the World Bank and Pakistan.