ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Minister for Economic Affairs Khusro Bakhtiar witnessed the signing ceremony of the loan agreement of “Punjab Resource Improvement and Digital Effectiveness Program (PRIDE)” worth US$ 304 million with the World Bank held at the Ministry of Economic Affairs in Islamabad on Wednesday.
The program aims to help the Punjab government to increase its own source revenue; and to improve the reliability of resource allocation and access to digital services for people and firms in the province.
The program interventions would primarily address three challenging areas of fiscal risk management, revenue mobilization, and expenditure management through better use of information systems.
Improved Public Resources Management is expected to create an additional fiscal space of Rs 274 billion by end of the financial year 2025 thereby creating enough space for the Punjab government to scale-up its spending on public service and infrastructure to foster rapid growth in the province.
The Secretary at the Ministry of Economic Affairs Noor Ahmed signed the loan agreement on behalf of the government of Pakistan while the representative of the Punjab government signed the operational agreement.
The Country Director World Bank Najy Benhassine signed the program agreements on behalf of the World Bank.
On the occasion, Khusro Bakhtiar reiterated the commitment of his government to improve fiscal management by augmentation of domestic revenues and to enhance spending on pro-people development initiatives.
The minister lauded the strategy of the Punjab government in this respect.
The minister for economic affairs thanked the World Bank Country Management for extending their continuous support to the government of Pakistan in achieving sustainable economic development in the Country.
The Country Director World Bank ensured their continuous support to the government of Pakistan in achieving the priority development objectives.
