Pakistan has formalised three loan agreements with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) totalling six hundred and three million dollars to finance major national projects in infrastructure, poverty alleviation, and education.
According to official information today, the accords were signed in the capital following a meeting between Ahad Khan Cheema, the Minister for Economic Affairs, and Dr. Rami Ahmed, Vice President of the Islamic Development Bank.
Federal Minister for Poverty Alleviation and Social Protection, Syed Imran Ahmed Shah, and other senior officials were also present during the signing ceremony.
The most substantial part of the financial package, an agreement for four hundred and seventy-five million dollars, is earmarked for the M-6 Sukkur-Hyderabad Motorway project.
A second agreement underpins the launch of a comprehensive programme for the country”s extremely poor and flood-affected households.
This initiative aims to provide sustainable employment and foster economic independence, moving vulnerable families away from a reliance on cash assistance towards a strong economic foundation.
The Islamic Development Bank will contribute one hundred and eighteen point four million dollars towards the total one hundred and thirty-four point two million dollar cost of the poverty reduction programme, which is set to benefit more than one hundred and sixty thousand households across twenty-five districts.
Under the third pact, the development bank will provide ten million dollars to support a project for out-of-school children in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.