WB terms reports on delaying loans for Pakistan as “unfounded”

Islamabad: The World Bank on Thursday termed the media reports on delaying approval of loans for Pakistan as unfounded and baseless saying that it was not delaying approval of any loan for the country.

“The press reports that refer to a World Bank decision to delay approval of potential Bank operations in Pakistan are unfounded”, Country Director of the World Bank for Pakistan Najy Benhassine said on his official twitter handle.

Earlier, the media reports had claimed that the Washington-based lender had delayed the approval of two loans for Pakistan worth $1.1 billion until the next fiscal year pending some steps on the country’s energy debt and tariffs.

However, Behassine made it clear that all the approval dates of loans were already scheduled.

“The tentative Board approval dates of all of our proposed operations, as well as their amounts, are indicative, and the World Bank decides on the timing for sharing project proposals for Board consideration following due process and based on the proposed projects’ readiness”, the WB Country Director added.