Development programme: Pakistan to receive $500 million from AIIB this month

Islamabad: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Wednesday said Pakistan will receive $500 million as co-financing for a development programme from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

The Building Resilience with Active Countercyclical Expenditures Programme is an Asian Development Bank (ADB) financing programme to counter the social fallouts of economic crisis.

“These funds will be received by the State Bank of Pakistan within November 2022,” Dar tweeted.

Last month, the ADB signed an agreement with Pakistan to provide a $1.5 billion loan for budgetary support and help flood-related rehabilitation and reconstruction activities.

Board of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has today approved USD 500 million as co-financing of Asian Development Bank (ADB) funded BRACE program for Pakistan.
These Funds will be received by State Bank of Pakistan within November 2022.

— Ishaq Dar (@MIshaqDar50) November 9, 2022

The loan, provided under the BRACE Programme, was provided to fund the government’s $2.3bn countercyclical development expenditure programme designed to cushion the impacts of external shocks, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The $1.5bn loan was aimed to provide social protection, promote food security, and support employment for people amid devastating floods and global supply chain disruptions.

The State Bank later announced that it had received $1.5bn from the ADB “as disbursement of policy-based loan for the government of Pakistan”.

SOURCE: REUTERS